Lando Norris Tops Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice

The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

The British racer, who took the championship lead from his teammate by one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.

Until that point, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before sprint qualifying due at 18:30 GMT.

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

His teammate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to go off, albeit lightly, when he rotated at corner four early in the session.

The Japanese spun out over the exit kerbs before rotating through the run-off area, and was blessed to get away with just a minor contact of the fence.

The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the very end of the practice, turning around through the high-speed Mergulho corner leading to the last turn on to the start-finish straight.

The veteran ended the session in 19th, one place behind teammate Charles Leclerc.

The McLaren pair were far ahead of the other competitors, with the German's Sauber P3, 0.619 seconds off Piastri's best.

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