Norris Leads Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session

The McLaren driver just pipped team-mate and title rival the Australian for the top spot in the final moments of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The British racer, who seized the championship lead from his teammate by a single point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, beat the Australian by a mere 0.023s.

Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before sprint qualifying due at 18:30 GMT.

Max Verstappen, the other racer in the championship fight, sitting with a 36-point deficit Norris, ended up in 17th place as his team ran a different programme.

His teammate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to go off, if briefly, when he rotated at Turn Four during the early running.

The Japanese lost control over the curbs on exit before rotating through the gravel trap, and was fortunate to get away with just a slight brush of the fence.

The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also spun, at the final moments of the session, rotating twice through the fast downhill corner leading to the last turn on to the main straight.

Hamilton finished practice in 19th, just behind teammate the Monegasque driver.

Norris and Piastri were well clear of the other competitors, with the German's car P3, 0.619 seconds off the Australian's time.

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