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Lando Norris narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Norris, who grabbed the title advantage from Piastri by one point after taking the win in Mexico City recently, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.

Until that point, Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before the sprint shootout due at 6:30 PM GMT.

The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, trailing 36 points behind behind Norris, finished in 17th position as his Red Bull team followed a alternative strategy.

Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the only driver to crash, though minor, when he rotated at Turn Four during the early running.

Tsunoda spun out over the exit kerbs before rotating through the gravel trap, and was lucky to escape with just a light touch of the barrier.

Ferrari's the seven-time champion also spun, at the final moments of the session, rotating twice through the fast downhill corner leading to the final corner on to the start-finish straight.

The seven-time champion ended the session in P19, trailing teammate Charles Leclerc.

The McLaren drivers were far ahead of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car in third, over half a second slower than Piastri's best.

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