Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice

The McLaren driver just pipped team-mate and title rival the Australian for the quickest lap in the closing stages of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

The British racer, who seized the points lead from Piastri by a single point after his victory in Mexico City recently, beat the Australian by 0.023 seconds.

Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before sprint qualifying set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.

The Red Bull star, the only other driver in realistic title contention, trailing 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his Red Bull team ran a different programme.

His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, albeit lightly, when he rotated at Turn Four soon after starting.

The Japanese slid over the exit kerbs before sliding over the run-off area, and was blessed to avoid just a slight brush of the wall.

The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the final moments of the session, rotating twice through the fast downhill corner leading to the last turn on to the main straight.

The veteran finished practice in P19, just behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.

The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with the German's car in third, 0.619secs off Piastri's pace.

The Aston Martin of 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.