World Champion Lewis Hamilton edged Max Verstappen during final practice for Formula 1’s Brazilian Grand Prix.
The one-hour session took place in warm and dry conditions at Interlagos, allowing the drivers to carry out qualifying simulations on Soft tyres.
Ferrari moved to the front by dipping into the 1:08s but Hamilton and Verstappen jumped clear, with the Mercedes driver posting a time of 1:08.320s.
That effort left Hamilton, victor in Brazil 12 months ago, just 0.026s in front of the Red Bull driver.
Charles Leclerc, who will drop 10 places on the grid after taking on a fresh Internal Combustion Engine, finished third, 0.291s behind Hamilton, and a mere 0.053s ahead of Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel.
Alexander Albon trailed in fifth, eight-tenths behind Hamilton, while the Briton’s own Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas was a subdued sixth after a scruffy effort.
Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat fronted another closely-contested midfield group, with less than four-tenths of a second covering the seventh-placed Russian and Haas Romain Grosjean, who took 16th.
That group involved all of the midfield teams aside from Racing Point and perennial 2019 backmarkers Williams.
From the aforementioned gaggle of teams it was Antonio Giovinazzi and the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz Jr. who joined Kvyat inside the top 10.
Sergio Perez was the faster of the Racing Point drivers, a couple of tenths adrift of Grosjean, while Williams finished further off the pace.
George Russell was over half a second down on Lance Stroll as Robert Kubica – using the spare chassis in the wake of his hefty FP2 crash – rounded out the runners, three-tenths behind his Williams team-mate.
Qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix will begin at 15:00 local time.
