Norris Tops Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice

The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the fastest time in the closing stages of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

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

Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before the sprint shootout due at 18:30 GMT.

The Red Bull star, the other racer in realistic title contention, lying with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, was classified in 17th place as his team opted for a alternative strategy.

Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to go off, if briefly, when he spun at corner four during the early running.

Tsunoda slid over the track edges before rotating through the gravel trap, and was fortunate to escape with just a light touch of the barrier.

Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the conclusion of the practice, turning around through the fast downhill Mergulho turn approaching the final corner on to the start-finish straight.

Hamilton ended the session in 19th place, just behind teammate Charles Leclerc.

Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber in third, 0.619 seconds off the Australian's time.

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