Norris Tops Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session

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

Norris, who took the title advantage from Piastri by a single point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.

Before then, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before the sprint shootout due at 18:30 GMT.

Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, trailing 36 points behind behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his Red Bull team opted for a alternative strategy.

His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to crash, if briefly, when he lost control at Turn Four during the early running.

The Japanese slid over the track edges before sliding over the escape zone, and was blessed to avoid just a light touch of the fence.

The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the conclusion of the session, rotating twice through the high-speed corner leading to the final bend on to the start-finish straight.

The seven-time champion ended the session in 19th, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.

The McLaren drivers were far ahead of the other competitors, with the German's car P3, over half a second behind Piastri's pace.

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