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Lando Norris edged out fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Norris, who seized the title advantage from Piastri by one point after taking the win in Mexico City two weeks ago, beat the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.

Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before the sprint shootout scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.

Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the points battle, sitting 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his Red Bull team opted for a alternative strategy.

Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he spun at the fourth corner soon after starting.

The Japanese slid over the exit kerbs before sliding over the run-off area, and was fortunate to escape with just a slight brush of the fence.

The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the final moments of the practice, spinning around through the high-speed Mergulho corner before the final bend on to the main straight.

The seven-time champion finished practice in 19th place, just behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.

The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber in third, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's best.

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