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Lando Norris just pipped team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the fastest time in the closing stages of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Norris, who grabbed the championship lead from Piastri by one point after his victory in Mexico City a fortnight back, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.

Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before the sprint shootout set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.

The Red Bull star, the only other driver in realistic title contention, lying 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th position as his team opted for a unique setup.

Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the only driver to have an incident, though minor, when he spun at corner four soon after starting.

Tsunoda spun out over the track edges before spinning across the escape zone, and was blessed to avoid just a minor contact of the barrier.

The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the conclusion of the session, spinning around through the quick descending corner before the final bend on to the main straight.

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

The McLaren drivers were well clear of the rest of the field, with the German's car P3, 0.619secs behind the Australian's time.

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