Norris Leads Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session

The McLaren driver edged out team-mate and title rival the Australian for the fastest time in the closing stages of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

The British racer, who took the points lead from Piastri by just one point after winning in Mexico City a fortnight back, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.

Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before the sprint shootout scheduled for 18:30 GMT.

The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, sitting 36 points behind behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his Red Bull team followed a alternative strategy.

Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to crash, though minor, when he spun at corner four early in the session.

Tsunoda spun out over the track edges before sliding over the gravel trap, and was fortunate to get away with just a slight brush of the wall.

The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the conclusion of the practice, turning around through the quick descending Mergulho corner before the final corner on to the main straight.

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

The McLaren drivers were well clear of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber in third, 0.619secs slower than Piastri's best.

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