Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session

The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and title rival the Australian for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Norris, who grabbed the championship lead from his teammate by a single point after his victory in Mexico City a fortnight back, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.

Before then, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before sprint qualifying due at 18:30 GMT.

The Red Bull star, the other racer in the points battle, lying 36 points Norris, ended up in 17th position as his team opted for a unique setup.

Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, though minor, when he lost control at Turn Four during the early running.

Tsunoda lost control over the track edges before spinning across the run-off area, and was fortunate to avoid just a slight brush of the barrier.

The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the final moments of the practice, turning around through the fast downhill Mergulho corner before the last turn on to the start-finish straight.

The seven-time champion finished practice in 19th place, trailing teammate Charles Leclerc.

Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with the German's Sauber third fastest, 0.619secs off Piastri's pace.

Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.