Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice

The McLaren driver just pipped team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the top spot in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The British racer, who took the championship lead from his teammate by just one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, outpaced the Australian by 0.023 seconds.

Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before the sprint shootout set to begin at the evening session.

The Red Bull star, the only other driver in realistic title contention, sitting with a 36-point deficit Norris, finished in 17th place as his team ran a alternative strategy.

His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, if briefly, when he rotated at corner four during the early running.

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

Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the very end of the session, rotating twice through the fast downhill Mergulho turn before the last turn on to the main straight.

The veteran wrapped up in P19, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.

The McLaren pair were far ahead of the rest of the field, with the German's car P3, over half a second slower than Piastri's pace.

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