Lando Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice

Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The British racer, who grabbed the championship lead from his teammate by a single point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, outpaced the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.

Before then, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before the sprint shootout due at the evening session.

The Red Bull star, the other racer in the championship fight, sitting 36 points behind Norris, finished in P17 as his team opted for a different programme.

Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to crash, though minor, when he spun at Turn Four during the early running.

Tsunoda slid over the track edges before sliding over the escape zone, and was blessed to escape with just a light touch of the fence.

Ferrari's the seven-time champion also spun, at the very end of the practice, spinning around through the quick descending Mergulho corner leading to the final bend on to the start-finish straight.

The veteran ended the session in 19th, one place behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.

The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car in third, 0.619 seconds behind Piastri's best.

Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.