Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Brazilian Practice

The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the final moments of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The British racer, who took the points lead from his teammate by one point after winning in Mexico City two weeks ago, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.

Until that point, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before the sprint shootout due at 18:30 GMT.

The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, lying 36 points behind Norris, was classified in 17th place as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.

His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, though minor, when he spun at corner four during the early running.

The Japanese spun out 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 Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the final moments of the session, rotating twice through the high-speed corner approaching the last turn on to the pit straight.

The seven-time champion ended the session in P19, trailing teammate Charles Leclerc.

The McLaren drivers were far ahead of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car P3, over half a second slower than Piastri's best.

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