Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice

Lando Norris just pipped team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the final moments of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

The British racer, who seized the championship lead from his teammate by a single point after his victory in Mexico City a fortnight back, topped the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.

Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before the sprint shootout due at 18:30 GMT.

Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the points battle, sitting with a 36-point deficit Norris, ended up in 17th position as his Red Bull team followed a unique setup.

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

Tsunoda lost control over the curbs on exit before rotating through the escape zone, and was blessed to get away with just a slight brush of the wall.

Ferrari's the seven-time champion also lost it, at the conclusion of the practice, rotating twice through the fast downhill corner leading to the final corner on to the pit straight.

The seven-time champion finished practice in 19th, one place behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.

The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber P3, over half a second slower than Piastri's best.

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