Lando Norris Tops Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice

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

Norris, who took the title advantage from Piastri by a single point after his victory in Mexico City a fortnight back, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.

Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before sprint qualifying set to begin at 18:30 GMT.

The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, trailing 36 points behind behind Norris, finished in P17 as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.

His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to go off, albeit lightly, when he rotated at Turn Four during the early running.

Tsunoda slid over the exit kerbs before rotating through the gravel trap, and was blessed to get away with just a light touch of the wall.

Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the very end of the practice, spinning around through the fast downhill Mergulho corner before the final bend on to the start-finish straight.

Hamilton ended the session in 19th, one place behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.

Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber third fastest, 0.619secs slower than the Australian's time.

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