Lando Norris Edges Out Oscar Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session

The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Norris, who seized the championship lead from his teammate by a single point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.

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

The Red Bull star, the only other driver in realistic title contention, sitting 36 points behind Norris, finished in 17th position as his team ran 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 corner four soon after starting.

The Japanese slid over the exit kerbs before rotating through the escape zone, and was fortunate to get away with just a light touch of the wall.

The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also spun, at the conclusion of the practice, rotating twice through the fast downhill Mergulho corner leading to the last turn on to the main straight.

The veteran ended the session in 19th, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.

The McLaren drivers were far ahead of the remaining drivers, with the German's Sauber in third, 0.619secs slower than the Australian's time.

The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.