F1 Brazil GP: Lando Norris leads Oscar Piastri in McLaren 1-...

Lando Norris topped Formula 1's sole free practice session at the Brazil Grand Prix sprint weekend ahead of Oscar Piastri.

Norris reclaimed the championship lead from Piastri after two difficult weekends for the Australian in Austin and Mexico, and backed up his form by topping F1's only practice session at Interlagos on F1's fifth of six 2025 sprint weekends. But Piastri also appeared to make a bright start to the Sao Paulo weekend, as he and Norris head into sprint qualifying closely matched.

The session got underway after a slight delay due to the track receiving a late clean-up, but teams still got a full hour of crucial practice time in during the only practice session of the weekend, ahead of sprint qualifying later on Friday.

The early running was dominated by the C2 tyre, Pirelli's hardest compound for the Interlagos weekend, as McLaren's championship leader Norris and team-mate Piastri took up familiar positions at the top of the timesheet, trading places with Mercedes' George Russell and Red Bull world champion Max Verstappen.

In the second Red Bull, Yuki Tsunoda went off the road at Turn 4 after a snap over the Turn 3 exit kerbs, the Japanese driver damaging his front and rear wing as he clipped the barriers. The incident cost Tsunoda valuable track time over a sprint weekend as a final decision on his Red Bull fate is still pending. Later on, Verstappen also went off at the same corner as Tsunoda, but recovered without damage.

Russell remained on top until 15 minutes remaining with a 1m11.188s lap on hard tyres, as teams prioritised what little time they had to conduct longer runs.

George Russell, Mercedes, Yuki Tsunoda, Red Bull Racing Team

Photo by: Rudy Carezzevoli / Getty Images

But in the final quarter, more and more drivers brandished the C3 medium tyres to conduct one-lap work, the tyre compound used for the first two phases of sprint qualifying. Tsunoda also rejoined the action - on softs - following repairs to his RB21.

Williams driver Alex Albon was the first driver to use the mediums to demote Russell, setting a 1m11.004s, which was just a prelude for a brace of improvements across the board.

Russell briefly reclaimed the top spot, before losing his lead to the second Williams of Carlos Sainz, but then Norris and Piastri found another gear, the latter going nearly three tenths clear of his team-mate with a 1m10.193s.

Piastri, who topped all three sectors of the classic Interlagos track, looked set to remain on top until the end as he aims to rebound from a difficult spell, going quicker still on his final effort to set a 1m.09.998s.

But Norris also found a late improvement on mediums to edge Piastri by 0.012s with a 1m.09.975s lap, the McLarens the only cars to dip below the 1m10 barrier.

They were surprisingly followed by Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg, albeit six tenths in arrears. Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso split Hulkenberg from his team-mate Gabriel Bortoleto in fifth, the rookie looking to make an impression on home soil as the first Brazilian in eight years to take part in the Sao Paulo race.

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin Racing

Photo by: Rudy Carezzevoli / Getty Images

Russell was pushed down to sixth, followed by Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Sainz. Rookie duo Isack Hadjar and Andrea Kimi Antonelli rounded out the top 10.

Reigning world champion Verstappen, who trails Norris by 36 points and thus still retains an outside chance to win five world titles on the trot, had a low-key start of the session in 17th after abandoning his final soft-tyre flyer, muddying the competitive picture.

Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton trailed the Dutchman in 18th and 19th after not setting a qualifying lap either, with Tsunoda last in 20th.

Qualifying for Saturday's 24-lap sprint continues at 15:30 local Brazilian time or 18:30 GMT.