🔗 Share this article

Lando Norris narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the fastest time in the closing stages of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Norris, who grabbed the championship lead from Piastri by just one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.

Before then, Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before the sprint shootout scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.

Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the championship fight, trailing with a 36-point deficit Norris, finished in 17th place as his Red Bull team ran a different programme.

Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the only driver to go off, though minor, when he rotated at corner four early in the session.

Tsunoda spun out over the track edges before sliding over the gravel trap, and was blessed to get away with just a slight brush of the wall.

Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the very end of the practice, turning around through the fast downhill corner approaching the final corner on to the pit straight.

Hamilton finished practice in P19, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.

Norris and Piastri were well clear of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car in third, 0.619secs off the Australian's time.

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