Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice

The McLaren driver just pipped fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Norris, who grabbed the points lead from his teammate by one point after his victory in Mexico City recently, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.

Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before the sprint shootout due at 18:30 GMT.

Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, lying 36 points behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his team ran a alternative strategy.

Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to crash, if briefly, when he spun at corner four soon after starting.

Tsunoda lost control over the exit kerbs before spinning across the escape zone, and was fortunate to escape with just a light touch of the fence.

The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also lost it, at the final moments of the practice, turning around through the high-speed corner leading to the last turn on to the pit straight.

The veteran finished practice in 19th, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.

Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car in third, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's pace.

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