Norris Tops Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session

Lando Norris edged out fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the fastest time in the final moments of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

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

Before then, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before sprint qualifying due at 18:30 GMT.

The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in realistic title contention, lying 36 points behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his Red Bull team opted for a alternative strategy.

Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the only driver to crash, though minor, when he lost control at Turn Four early in the session.

The Japanese slid over the track edges before rotating through the escape zone, and was lucky to get away with just a minor contact of the fence.

The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the conclusion of the practice, spinning around through the fast downhill Mergulho turn approaching the final bend on to the pit straight.

The seven-time champion ended the session in 19th place, just behind teammate Charles Leclerc.

The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with the German's car P3, 0.619 seconds behind Piastri's best.

Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto in front of Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.