Norris Tops Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outperformed his teammate at each of the previous five grands prix.
The McLaren driver just pipped fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the top spot in the closing stages of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the championship lead from Piastri by just one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, beat the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before sprint qualifying set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in realistic title contention, sitting with a 36-point deficit Norris, finished in 17th place as his team followed a different programme.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, though minor, when he rotated at Turn Four soon after starting.
The Japanese lost control over the exit kerbs before rotating through the escape zone, and was lucky to escape with just a slight brush of the barrier.
The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the very end of the practice, rotating twice through the fast downhill Mergulho corner before the final corner on to the start-finish straight.
Hamilton finished practice in 19th place, just behind teammate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber P3, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's pace.
Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.
