Lando Norris Edges Out Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice

McLaren drivers in action — The British driver has beaten his teammate at each of the past five race weekends.

Lando Norris narrowly beat team-mate and title rival the Australian for the top spot in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Norris, who took the championship lead from his teammate by just one point after winning in Mexico City a fortnight back, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.

Until that point, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before sprint qualifying set to begin at 18:30 GMT.

Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, sitting with a 36-point deficit Norris, finished in P17 as his Red Bull team followed a alternative strategy.

Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, if briefly, when he rotated at Turn Four during the early running.

Tsunoda spun out over the curbs on exit before rotating through the escape zone, and was lucky to get away with just a slight brush of the wall.

The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the conclusion of the practice, rotating twice through the high-speed Mergulho turn approaching the final bend on to the start-finish straight.

The seven-time champion finished practice in P19, one place behind teammate Charles Leclerc.

The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber in third, 0.619secs off the Australian's time.

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