Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice

Lando Norris edged out team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the quickest lap in the final moments of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Norris, who grabbed the points lead from Piastri by a single point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, outpaced the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.

Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before the sprint shootout due at 6:30 PM GMT.

The Red Bull star, the other racer in the points battle, trailing 36 points Norris, ended up in 17th place as his team ran a alternative strategy.

Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, if briefly, when he spun at Turn Four soon after starting.

The Japanese spun out over the curbs on exit before rotating through the run-off area, and was lucky to escape with just a light touch of the wall.

Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the final moments of the session, turning around through the fast downhill Mergulho corner leading to the final bend on to the start-finish straight.

The veteran finished practice in 19th, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.

The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with the German's car third fastest, 0.619 seconds off Piastri's best.

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