Lando Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice

The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the top spot in the final moments of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Norris, who seized the points lead from his teammate by just one point after taking the win in Mexico City recently, outpaced the Australian by a mere 0.023s.

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

Max Verstappen, the other racer in the points battle, sitting 36 points behind Norris, was classified in P17 as his Red Bull team followed a different programme.

Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the only driver to have an incident, if briefly, when he lost control at Turn Four early in the session.

Tsunoda lost control over the exit kerbs before spinning across the run-off area, and was fortunate to get away with just a light touch of the fence.

The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also lost it, at the very end of the session, rotating twice through the high-speed Mergulho corner approaching the last turn on to the start-finish straight.

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

The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car in third, 0.619 seconds behind Piastri's pace.

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