Norris Leads Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice Session

The McLaren driver just pipped team-mate and title rival the Australian for the quickest lap in the closing stages of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

The British racer, who seized the points lead from Piastri by one point after his victory in Mexico City a fortnight back, topped the Australian by 0.023 seconds.

Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before sprint qualifying set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.

The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, sitting 36 points Norris, finished in P17 as his Red Bull team followed a alternative strategy.

His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he lost control at the fourth corner soon after starting.

The Japanese slid over the curbs on exit before rotating through the gravel trap, and was lucky to avoid just a light touch of the fence.

Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the very end of the session, turning around through the quick descending Mergulho turn leading to the final bend on to the main straight.

Hamilton wrapped up in P19, just behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.

The McLaren pair were well clear of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber in third, 0.619secs off the Australian's time.

The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Sainz.