Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Brazilian Practice Session

Lando Norris edged out fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the fastest time in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The British racer, who grabbed the championship lead from Piastri by one point after winning in Mexico City a fortnight back, beat the Australian by a mere 0.023s.

Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before sprint qualifying scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.

The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in realistic title contention, sitting with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his team opted for a different programme.

His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to go off, if briefly, when he rotated at Turn Four early in the session.

Tsunoda spun out over the exit kerbs before rotating through the run-off area, and was blessed to get away with just a minor contact of the barrier.

The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the very end of the practice, turning around through the high-speed Mergulho corner before the final bend on to the start-finish straight.

The veteran wrapped up in P19, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.

Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the rest of the field, with the German's car third fastest, 0.619 seconds behind Piastri's best.

Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.