Lando Norris Tops Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session

Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the quickest lap in the closing stages of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The British racer, who grabbed the championship lead from Piastri by a single point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.

Until that point, Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before the sprint shootout set to begin at 18:30 GMT.

Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in realistic title contention, sitting with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his team opted for a different programme.

Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to crash, albeit lightly, when he rotated at Turn Four during the early running.

The Japanese spun out over the exit kerbs before sliding over the escape zone, and was blessed to avoid just a light touch of the wall.

Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the conclusion of the session, spinning around through the high-speed Mergulho turn leading to the final bend on to the main straight.

Hamilton finished practice in P19, just behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.

Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, 0.619 seconds behind the Australian's time.

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