Lando Norris Tops Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice

Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Norris, who took the title advantage from his teammate by just one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.

Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before sprint qualifying set to begin at 18:30 GMT.

The Red Bull star, the other racer in realistic title contention, sitting 36 points Norris, finished in 17th place as his team opted for a different programme.

Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the only driver to go off, though minor, when he spun at Turn Four soon after starting.

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

Ferrari's the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the conclusion of the session, rotating twice through the high-speed Mergulho corner before the final corner on to the pit straight.

Hamilton ended the session in 19th place, just behind teammate the Monegasque driver.

The McLaren drivers were well clear of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car P3, over half a second behind Piastri's pace.

The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.