🔗 Share this article

The McLaren driver just pipped fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the fastest time in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The British racer, who seized the points lead from his teammate by a single point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, beat the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.

Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before sprint qualifying due at 18:30 GMT.

The Red Bull star, the other racer in the points battle, trailing 36 points behind Norris, finished in 17th place as his Red Bull team ran a unique setup.

Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, though minor, when he lost control at Turn Four early in the session.

Tsunoda spun out over the track edges before sliding over the gravel trap, and was lucky to escape with just a light touch of the fence.

The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the very end of the session, turning around through the fast downhill Mergulho corner before the last turn on to the start-finish straight.

The seven-time champion ended the session in 19th place, just behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.

The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber third fastest, 0.619secs off Piastri's best.

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