Lando Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session

Lando Norris edged out team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the closing stages of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The British racer, who grabbed the points lead from Piastri by one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, topped the Australian by 0.023 seconds.

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

The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, trailing 36 points behind Norris, was classified in P17 as his team opted for a different programme.

Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, if briefly, when he spun at Turn Four soon after starting.

Tsunoda slid over the track edges before spinning across the escape zone, and was blessed to get away with just a slight brush of the barrier.

Ferrari's the seven-time champion also spun, at the very end of the session, turning around through the fast downhill corner leading to the final bend on to the start-finish straight.

Hamilton ended the session in 19th, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.

The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's car in third, over half a second slower than Piastri's pace.

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