Formula One championship leader Lando Norris laid down an early marker against McLaren teammate and title rival Oscar Piastri on Friday, topping the sole practice session for the São Paulo Grand Prix as McLaren dominated at Interlagos.

Norris, who leads Piastri by just one point with four rounds remaining — including two sprint weekends — clocked a best lap of 1:09.975 on medium tyres. Piastri finished just 0.023 seconds adrift after Norris snatched top spot with his final flying lap.

McLaren, already crowned constructors’ champions for a second consecutive year, looked comfortably ahead of the rest of the field once again.

With São Paulo marking the fifth sprint weekend of the season, drivers had only one practice session before heading straight into qualifying for Saturday’s 100km sprint.

Sauber’s Nico Hülkenberg was the closest challenger in third, 0.619 seconds off the pace, followed by Fernando Alonso in fourth for Aston Martin. Local rookie Gabriel Bortoleto, Hülkenberg’s teammate and set for his first home race, impressed in fifth. Mercedes’ George Russell placed sixth, just ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, who surprised with a strong seventh.

Williams’ Carlos Sainz, who sat out Thursday’s media day due to illness, returned to action and finished eighth, ahead of Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar and Mercedes prospect Kimi Antonelli, rounding out the top ten.

It was a tougher session for several big names. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc ended up 18th, Lewis Hamilton — a three-time winner in Brazil — was 19th, and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen finished 17th after skipping runs on the medium tyre. Both Ferrari drivers stayed on the harder compound, with Hamilton spinning at Turn 11 in the closing moments.

Verstappen, who trails Norris by 36 points in the standings, memorably won last year’s race after starting 17th.

There was early drama for Yuki Tsunoda, who spun over the kerb at Turn 4 and clipped the barriers, damaging both front and rear wings. The Red Bull driver managed to return to the pits for repairs and rejoined the session with 25 minutes remaining.

“You never want to start a session like that, but these things happen,” said team boss Laurent Mekies to Sky Sports.