🔗 Share this article

Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The British racer, who grabbed the championship lead from his teammate by one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, topped the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.

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

The Red Bull star, the other racer in the championship fight, lying 36 points behind behind Norris, finished in P17 as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.

His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to go off, albeit lightly, when he rotated at corner four during the early running.

Tsunoda slid over the exit kerbs before rotating through the escape zone, and was lucky to escape with just a minor contact of the fence.

The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the conclusion of the practice, spinning around through the high-speed Mergulho turn leading to 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.

The McLaren drivers were well clear of the other competitors, with the German's car P3, 0.619secs off Piastri's best.

The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of George Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Sainz.