Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session

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

The British racer, who took the title advantage from Piastri by one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, topped the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.

Before then, Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before sprint qualifying set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.

Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the championship fight, lying with a 36-point deficit Norris, was classified in P17 as his Red Bull team opted for a unique setup.

Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the only driver to have an incident, if briefly, when he rotated at the fourth corner soon after starting.

Tsunoda slid over the curbs on exit before sliding over the gravel trap, and was fortunate to escape with just a minor contact of the fence.

The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also lost it, at the conclusion of the practice, turning around through the high-speed corner leading to the final bend on to the start-finish straight.

The seven-time champion wrapped up in 19th place, one place behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.

The McLaren drivers were well clear of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber P3, over half a second slower than Piastri's best.

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