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The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the final moments of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Norris, who took the title advantage from his teammate by a single point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.

Until that point, 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 championship fight, trailing with a 36-point deficit Norris, was classified in 17th position as his team ran a different programme.

His teammate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to crash, though minor, when he rotated at the fourth corner early in the session.

Tsunoda spun out over the exit kerbs before rotating through the escape zone, and was lucky to get away with just a light touch of the barrier.

The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the very end of the practice, rotating twice through the fast downhill Mergulho turn before the final corner on to the main straight.

Hamilton finished practice in P19, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.

The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with the German's car P3, 0.619secs off Piastri's pace.

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