Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session

The McLaren driver edged out fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the top spot in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

The British racer, who took the title advantage from Piastri by just one point after winning in Mexico City two weeks ago, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.

Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before the sprint shootout set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.

Max Verstappen, the other racer in realistic title contention, lying 36 points behind behind Norris, was classified in 17th position as his Red Bull team ran a different programme.

His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to go off, if briefly, when he lost control at corner four during the early running.

Tsunoda slid over the track edges before rotating through the escape zone, and was fortunate to avoid just a slight brush of the barrier.

The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also spun, at the final moments of the session, rotating twice through the fast downhill corner before the final bend on to the pit straight.

Hamilton ended the session in 19th place, just behind teammate Charles Leclerc.

The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's car P3, over half a second off Piastri's best.

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