Lando Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has beaten his teammate at each of the last five grands prix.
The McLaren driver edged out fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The British racer, who took the points lead from his teammate by just one point after his victory in Mexico City recently, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.
Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before the sprint shootout scheduled for 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in realistic title contention, trailing with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his team followed a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the only driver to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he lost control at corner four early in the session.
Tsunoda lost control over the track edges before sliding over the run-off area, and was blessed to avoid just a light touch of the fence.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also lost it, at the final moments of the session, spinning around through the high-speed Mergulho turn leading to the last turn on to the start-finish straight.
Hamilton ended the session in 19th, just behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car P3, over half a second off Piastri's best.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.