Lando Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session

The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the closing stages of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Norris, who seized the points lead from his teammate by a single point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, topped the Australian by 0.023 seconds.

Until that point, Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before the sprint shootout set to begin at 18:30 GMT.

Max Verstappen, the other racer in realistic title contention, lying 36 points behind behind Norris, finished in P17 as his Red Bull team ran a different programme.

Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to go off, albeit lightly, when he spun at Turn Four during the early running.

Tsunoda slid over the curbs on exit before spinning across the run-off area, and was lucky to avoid just a slight brush of the barrier.

The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also spun, at the final moments of the practice, rotating twice through the quick descending Mergulho corner approaching the final corner on to the pit straight.

The veteran finished practice in P19, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.

Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car in third, over half a second behind Piastri's pace.

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