🔗 Share this article

The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival 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 points lead from his teammate by a single point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, outpaced the Australian by a mere 0.023s.

Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before the sprint shootout due at the evening session.

The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, lying 36 points behind behind Norris, was classified in 17th place as his Red Bull team followed a different programme.

Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, though minor, when he rotated at the fourth corner soon after starting.

The Japanese slid over the exit kerbs before spinning across the gravel trap, and was lucky to escape with just a minor contact of the fence.

The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the very end of the practice, rotating twice through the quick descending Mergulho corner before the final bend on to the main straight.

Hamilton ended the session in 19th place, trailing teammate Charles Leclerc.

Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car in third, 0.619secs behind Piastri's pace.

Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' George Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Sainz.