Norris Tops Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session

Lando Norris narrowly beat team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the final moments of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The British racer, who grabbed the points lead from Piastri by just one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.

Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before the sprint shootout scheduled for the evening session.

The Red Bull star, the only other driver in the championship fight, trailing 36 points behind Norris, was classified in 17th position as his Red Bull team followed a unique setup.

His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to go off, though minor, when he lost control at the fourth corner early in the session.

The Japanese spun out over the curbs on exit before rotating through the run-off area, and was blessed to get away with just a minor contact of the fence.

The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the conclusion of the session, turning around through the quick descending Mergulho turn before the final bend on to the start-finish straight.

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

The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber third fastest, 0.619secs off the Australian's time.

Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.