Lando Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice

Lando Norris edged out team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the closing stages of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Norris, who grabbed the points lead from his teammate by just one point after his victory in Mexico City a fortnight back, beat the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.

Until that point, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before sprint qualifying due at 18:30 GMT.

The Red Bull star, the other racer in the points battle, sitting 36 points behind Norris, finished in 17th place as his team ran a different programme.

His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, albeit lightly, when he rotated at Turn Four during the early running.

The Japanese spun out over the track edges before spinning across the gravel trap, and was blessed to get away with just a slight brush of the fence.

The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the very end of the practice, turning around through the quick descending corner approaching the last turn on to the main straight.

The veteran wrapped up in P19, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.

The McLaren pair were far ahead of the rest of the field, with the German's car in third, 0.619secs behind Piastri's pace.

The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was in fourth, with the Sauber of Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.