🔗 Share this article

Lando Norris just pipped fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Norris, who grabbed the title advantage from his teammate by one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, topped the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.

Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before sprint qualifying scheduled for the evening session.

Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the championship fight, sitting with a 36-point deficit Norris, ended up in P17 as his Red Bull team ran a different programme.

Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, if briefly, when he lost control at the fourth corner soon after starting.

The Japanese lost control over the track edges before sliding over the run-off area, and was blessed to avoid just a light touch of the wall.

The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the final moments of the session, turning around through the high-speed corner approaching the final corner on to the pit straight.

The seven-time champion wrapped up in 19th, just behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.

The McLaren pair were well clear of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber P3, 0.619secs off Piastri's best.

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