Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session

Lando Norris just pipped fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Norris, who took the title advantage from Piastri by one point after taking the win in Mexico City a fortnight back, topped the Australian by a mere 0.023s.

Until that point, Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before sprint qualifying set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.

Max Verstappen, the only other driver in realistic title contention, lying 36 points behind behind Norris, was classified in P17 as his team ran a alternative strategy.

His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, though minor, when he rotated at the fourth corner during the early running.

Tsunoda lost control over the track edges before rotating through the escape zone, and was fortunate to avoid just a slight brush of the barrier.

Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the conclusion of the practice, turning around through the high-speed Mergulho corner approaching the final corner on to the pit straight.

Hamilton finished practice in 19th, one place behind teammate Charles Leclerc.

The McLaren drivers were well clear of the remaining drivers, with the German's car in third, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's pace.

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