Lando Norris has beaten his teammate at all of the past five race weekends.
The McLaren driver edged out team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British racer, who grabbed the championship lead from Piastri by a single point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, topped the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.
Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before the sprint shootout set to begin at 18:30 GMT.
Max Verstappen, the other racer in realistic title contention, sitting with a 36-point deficit Norris, was classified in 17th position as his team followed a unique setup.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, if briefly, when he spun at Turn Four during the early running.
Tsunoda slid over the exit kerbs before sliding over the run-off area, and was blessed to avoid just a minor contact of the barrier.
Ferrari's the seven-time champion also spun, at the final moments of the session, spinning around through the quick descending Mergulho corner approaching the final corner on to the main straight.
Hamilton wrapped up in 19th, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with the German's car third fastest, over half a second slower than Piastri's best.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.
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Cynthia Harding
Cynthia Harding
Cynthia Harding
Cynthia Harding
Cynthia Harding