Norris Leads Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice

Lando Norris narrowly beat 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 points lead from his teammate by one point after his victory in Mexico City recently, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.

Until that point, Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before sprint qualifying scheduled for the evening session.

The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in realistic title contention, trailing with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, ended up in 17th position as his Red Bull team opted for a different programme.

Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to go off, if briefly, when he rotated at Turn Four soon after starting.

The Japanese spun out over the track edges before rotating through the escape zone, and was lucky to escape with just a minor contact of the fence.

Ferrari's the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the final moments of the session, turning around through the high-speed Mergulho turn before the final bend on to the start-finish straight.

The veteran finished practice in P19, one place behind teammate Charles Leclerc.

Norris and Piastri were well clear of the rest of the field, with the German's car P3, 0.619secs slower than the Australian's time.

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