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Lando Norris just pipped team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

The British racer, who took the title advantage from Piastri by a single point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, beat the Australian by a mere 0.023s.

Before then, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before the sprint shootout scheduled for the evening session.

Max Verstappen, the other racer in the points battle, trailing with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, was classified in 17th place as his team opted for a different programme.

His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, though minor, when he rotated at Turn Four during the early running.

Tsunoda slid over the curbs on exit before rotating through the run-off area, and was lucky to escape with just a minor contact of the wall.

The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the final moments of the practice, spinning around through the high-speed Mergulho turn leading to the final bend on to the main straight.

Hamilton finished practice in P19, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.

Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber in third, over half a second off the Australian's time.

The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with Sauber's Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.