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Lando Norris edged out team-mate and title rival the Australian for the top spot in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The British racer, who took the title advantage from Piastri by just one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.

Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before sprint qualifying set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.

The Red Bull star, the other racer in the championship fight, lying with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, was classified in P17 as his team opted for a alternative strategy.

Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, though minor, when he lost control at corner four during the early running.

Tsunoda lost control over the curbs on exit before rotating through the run-off area, and was lucky to get away with just a slight brush of the wall.

The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the very end of the session, rotating twice through the high-speed Mergulho corner approaching the final bend on to the main straight.

The seven-time champion wrapped up in P19, trailing team-mate Charles Leclerc.

The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber third fastest, 0.619secs behind Piastri's pace.

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