Norris Edges Out Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session

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

Norris, who grabbed the points lead from his teammate by one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, beat the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.

Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before sprint qualifying due at 18:30 GMT.

Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, trailing with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, was classified in 17th position as his team followed a different programme.

Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the only driver to crash, albeit lightly, when he lost control at Turn Four soon after starting.

Tsunoda lost control over the track edges before sliding over the gravel trap, and was fortunate to avoid just a slight brush of the wall.

The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the final moments of the practice, rotating twice through the quick descending Mergulho turn leading to the final corner on to the main straight.

The veteran finished practice in P19, just behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.

Norris and Piastri were well clear of the remaining drivers, with the German's Sauber P3, 0.619 seconds off the Australian's time.

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