Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice

The McLaren driver just pipped fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the top spot in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Norris, who took the points lead from Piastri by one point after taking the win in Mexico City recently, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.

Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before the sprint shootout scheduled for 18:30 GMT.

Max Verstappen, the other racer in the championship fight, sitting 36 points Norris, finished in 17th place as his team followed a unique setup.

Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he rotated at corner four during the early running.

Tsunoda lost control over the exit kerbs before rotating through the run-off area, and was lucky to avoid just a light touch of the wall.

Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the final moments of the practice, spinning around through the fast downhill Mergulho corner approaching the last turn on to the main straight.

The seven-time champion ended the session in 19th place, one place behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.

Norris and Piastri were well clear of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber in third, over half a second behind Piastri's best.

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