Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session

Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The British racer, who took the championship lead from his teammate by a single point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.

Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before the sprint shootout due at the evening session.

The Red Bull star, the other racer in the championship fight, trailing with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, was classified in 17th position as his Red Bull team ran a different programme.

His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to crash, albeit lightly, when he rotated at Turn Four early in the session.

Tsunoda spun out over the track edges before sliding over the gravel trap, and was lucky to avoid just a slight brush of the fence.

Ferrari's the seven-time champion also lost it, at the final moments of the session, spinning around through the high-speed Mergulho turn leading to the final corner on to the main straight.

The seven-time champion finished practice in 19th, one place behind teammate Charles Leclerc.

The McLaren drivers were well clear of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, 0.619secs slower than Piastri's pace.

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