Norris Edges Out Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session
The British driver has outscored Oscar Piastri at each of the past five grands prix.
The McLaren driver just pipped fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the fastest time in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who grabbed the points lead from Piastri by one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before sprint qualifying set to begin at 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in the points battle, trailing 36 points behind behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his team followed a alternative strategy.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to go off, albeit lightly, when he spun at corner four early in the session.
Tsunoda lost control over the track edges before rotating through the run-off area, and was lucky to escape with just a slight brush of the fence.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the very end of the practice, rotating twice through the quick descending corner before the final corner on to the main straight.
Hamilton wrapped up in 19th place, trailing teammate Charles Leclerc.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber in third, 0.619secs slower than the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was in fourth, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
