Norris Leads Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice

Lando Norris narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the fastest time in the closing stages of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Norris, who took the points lead from his teammate by one point after his victory in Mexico City recently, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.

Before then, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before sprint qualifying due at 6:30 PM GMT.

Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in realistic title contention, lying 36 points behind Norris, was classified in P17 as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.

Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the only driver to go off, albeit lightly, when he spun at corner four during the early running.

Tsunoda spun out over the track edges before spinning across the escape zone, and was blessed to avoid just a light touch of the barrier.

The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the very end of the session, turning around through the high-speed Mergulho corner approaching the last turn on to the pit straight.

The seven-time champion finished practice in 19th place, just behind teammate the Monegasque driver.

The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, 0.619 seconds off Piastri's best.

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