🔗 Share this article

The McLaren driver just pipped team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the top spot in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The British racer, who took the championship lead from his teammate by a single point after winning in Mexico City two weeks ago, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.

Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before the sprint shootout due at the evening session.

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

Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the only driver to have an incident, if briefly, when he spun at corner four soon after starting.

Tsunoda slid over the curbs on exit before spinning across the escape zone, and was fortunate to escape with just a minor contact of the fence.

Ferrari's the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the very end of the practice, rotating twice through the fast downhill Mergulho corner approaching the final corner on to the start-finish straight.

The seven-time champion finished practice in P19, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.

The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with the German's car in third, 0.619secs behind the Australian's time.

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