Lando Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session

Lando Norris edged out fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the closing stages of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

The British racer, who seized the points lead from his teammate by just one point after winning in Mexico City two weeks ago, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.

Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before the sprint shootout set to begin at the evening session.

The Red Bull star, the other racer in realistic title contention, trailing with a 36-point deficit Norris, finished in 17th place as his Red Bull team opted for a different programme.

Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to crash, albeit lightly, when he lost control at corner four during the early running.

The Japanese slid over the curbs on exit before rotating through the escape zone, and was lucky to avoid just a light touch of the wall.

The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the conclusion of the session, rotating twice through the high-speed Mergulho turn before the last turn on to the start-finish straight.

Hamilton finished practice in P19, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.

The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's car in third, over half a second off the Australian's time.

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