Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice

Lando Norris edged out fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the fastest time in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The British racer, who took the championship lead from his teammate by just one point after his victory in Mexico City recently, outpaced the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.

Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before the sprint shootout set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.

Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the points battle, sitting 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his team opted for a alternative strategy.

His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, though minor, when he lost control at Turn Four early in the session.

Tsunoda slid over the curbs on exit before spinning across the gravel trap, and was fortunate to avoid just a minor contact of the fence.

The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also lost it, at the conclusion of the session, turning around through the quick descending Mergulho corner before the final corner on to the pit straight.

The veteran wrapped up in 19th, just behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.

Norris and Piastri were well clear of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber P3, 0.619 seconds behind Piastri's best.

Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.