Lando Norris Leads Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice

Lando Norris edged out fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the final moments of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Norris, who seized the championship lead from his teammate by just one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.

Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before sprint qualifying set to begin at the evening session.

Max Verstappen, the only other driver in realistic title contention, sitting 36 points behind Norris, was classified in 17th place as his team ran a different programme.

His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he rotated at the fourth corner soon after starting.

Tsunoda slid over the curbs on exit before spinning across the run-off area, and was fortunate to escape with just a slight brush of the fence.

Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the conclusion of the practice, rotating twice through the quick descending corner leading to the final corner on to the main straight.

The seven-time champion ended the session in P19, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.

The McLaren pair were far ahead of the other competitors, with the German's Sauber third fastest, over half a second slower than the Australian's time.

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