Norris Leads Piastri in Brazilian Practice

The McLaren driver edged out fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Norris, who seized the points lead from Piastri by one point after winning in Mexico City recently, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.

Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before sprint qualifying due at 6:30 PM GMT.

Max Verstappen, the other racer in the points battle, sitting 36 points Norris, finished in 17th position as his team followed a different programme.

Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, if briefly, when he lost control at corner four soon after starting.

The Japanese slid over the track edges before spinning across the run-off area, and was fortunate to get away with just a light touch of the wall.

The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the very end of the session, turning around through the fast downhill Mergulho turn approaching the final bend on to the main straight.

The seven-time champion wrapped up in P19, just behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.

The McLaren pair were well clear of the remaining drivers, with the German's car in third, 0.619 seconds behind the Australian's time.

The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.