Lando Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice

Lando Norris edged out fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the top spot in the final moments of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

The British racer, who took the points lead from Piastri by just one point after winning in Mexico City recently, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.

Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before sprint qualifying scheduled for the evening session.

The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in realistic title contention, sitting with a 36-point deficit Norris, finished in P17 as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.

His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, if briefly, when he spun at the fourth corner soon after starting.

The Japanese lost control over the track edges before sliding over the escape zone, and was blessed to get away with just a minor contact of the wall.

Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the very end of the session, turning around through the high-speed Mergulho corner leading to the final bend on to the pit straight.

Hamilton wrapped up in 19th place, one place behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.

The McLaren pair were far ahead of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber third fastest, over half a second behind Piastri's best.

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