Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice

Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the top spot in the closing stages of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Norris, who grabbed the points lead from his teammate by one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, topped the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.

Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before the sprint shootout set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.

Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the championship fight, trailing 36 points behind Norris, was classified in 17th position as his team followed a different programme.

Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to crash, though minor, when he spun at corner four early in the session.

The Japanese slid over the track edges before sliding over the run-off area, and was fortunate to escape with just a light touch of the fence.

The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also lost it, at the very end of the session, spinning around through the fast downhill Mergulho corner before the final corner on to the start-finish straight.

The seven-time champion ended the session in P19, trailing team-mate Charles Leclerc.

The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with the German's car in third, over half a second behind Piastri's pace.

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