Lando Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice

The McLaren driver just pipped fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the fastest time in the final moments of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Norris, who grabbed the title advantage from his teammate by one point after his victory in Mexico City two weeks ago, outpaced the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.

Until that point, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before sprint qualifying due at 6:30 PM GMT.

Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the championship fight, lying 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his Red Bull team opted for a unique setup.

Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the only driver to have an incident, if briefly, when he spun at the fourth corner soon after starting.

The Japanese slid over the exit kerbs before spinning across the escape zone, and was lucky to escape with just a light touch of the barrier.

Ferrari's the seven-time champion also lost it, at the very end of the session, rotating twice through the fast downhill corner approaching the last turn on to the main straight.

The veteran ended the session in P19, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.

Norris and Piastri were well clear of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber in third, 0.619secs slower than Piastri's best.

Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Sainz.