Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice

Lando Norris just pipped fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the fastest time in the closing stages of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The British racer, who seized the title advantage from his teammate by one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, topped the Australian by a mere 0.023s.

Until that point, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before the sprint shootout set to begin at 18:30 GMT.

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

His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, if briefly, when he lost control at Turn Four soon after starting.

The Japanese spun out over the exit kerbs before spinning across the run-off area, and was lucky to get away with just a minor contact of the fence.

Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the final moments of the practice, rotating twice through the high-speed corner leading to the last turn on to the start-finish straight.

The veteran wrapped up in 19th place, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.

Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber in third, 0.619secs behind Piastri's best.

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