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

The British racer, who grabbed the title advantage from his teammate by a single point after his victory in Mexico City two weeks ago, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.

Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before the sprint shootout set to begin at the evening session.

The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, trailing with a 36-point deficit Norris, ended up in 17th position as his team opted for a different programme.

Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to go off, though minor, when he spun at corner four soon after starting.

The Japanese slid over the track edges before spinning across the escape zone, and was lucky to escape with just a slight brush of the fence.

Ferrari's the seven-time champion also spun, at the very end of the session, rotating twice through the quick descending Mergulho turn leading to the final bend on to the start-finish straight.

The veteran wrapped up in P19, just behind teammate the Monegasque driver.

The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with the German's car third fastest, 0.619secs off Piastri's pace.

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