Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session

The McLaren driver just pipped fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the closing stages of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The British racer, who seized the championship lead from Piastri by a single point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.

Before then, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before sprint qualifying set to begin at the evening session.

The Red Bull star, the only other driver in realistic title contention, sitting 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his team opted for a alternative strategy.

His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, if briefly, when he rotated at corner four soon after starting.

Tsunoda slid over the track edges before rotating through the run-off area, and was blessed to get away with just a minor contact of the wall.

The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also lost it, at the final moments of the session, turning around through the quick descending Mergulho corner leading to the final corner on to the pit straight.

The veteran ended the session in 19th place, just behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.

The McLaren drivers were well clear of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber in third, over half a second behind Piastri's best.

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