Norris Leads Piastri in Brazilian Practice

The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap 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 taking the win in Mexico City two weeks ago, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.

Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before the sprint shootout scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.

The Red Bull star, the other racer in realistic title contention, lying 36 points behind Norris, finished in 17th position as his Red Bull team ran a unique setup.

His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, if briefly, when he rotated at the fourth corner soon after starting.

Tsunoda spun out over the exit kerbs before sliding over the run-off area, and was lucky to escape with just a minor contact of the barrier.

The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the conclusion of the practice, spinning around through the fast downhill corner leading to the last turn on to the start-finish straight.

The veteran finished practice in P19, one place behind teammate Charles Leclerc.

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

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