Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at all of the previous five grands prix.
The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the final moments of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the championship lead from Piastri by just one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, topped the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Before then, Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before the sprint shootout scheduled for 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, sitting 36 points behind behind Norris, was classified in P17 as his Red Bull team opted for a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, if briefly, when he lost control at corner four early in the session.
The Japanese spun out over the exit kerbs before rotating through the gravel trap, and was lucky to avoid just a minor contact of the fence.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also lost it, at the conclusion of the session, turning around through the fast downhill Mergulho corner leading to the final corner on to the pit straight.
Hamilton wrapped up in 19th, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber third fastest, 0.619secs slower than Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was in fourth, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
