Lando Norris Leads Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice

The McLaren driver just pipped fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Norris, who took the points lead from his teammate by a single point after taking the win in Mexico City a fortnight back, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.

Until that point, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before the sprint shootout due at 6:30 PM GMT.

The Red Bull star, the only other driver in realistic title contention, trailing 36 points Norris, was classified in 17th place as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.

His teammate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to go off, if briefly, when he lost control at the fourth corner soon after starting.

The Japanese spun out over the exit kerbs before spinning across the escape zone, and was blessed to get away with just a minor contact of the fence.

The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the conclusion of the session, spinning around through the high-speed corner approaching the final bend on to the main straight.

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

The McLaren drivers were far ahead 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 Sauber's Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.