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Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

The British racer, who seized the title advantage from his teammate by one point after his victory in Mexico City two weeks ago, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.

Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before the sprint shootout scheduled for the evening session.

The Red Bull star, the other racer in realistic title contention, trailing 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th position as his team ran a unique setup.

His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, though minor, when he rotated at Turn Four during the early running.

The Japanese spun out over the exit kerbs before sliding over the escape zone, and was blessed to avoid just a minor contact of the barrier.

Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the very end of the practice, spinning around through the fast downhill Mergulho corner leading to the final bend on to the main straight.

Hamilton finished practice in 19th, trailing team-mate Charles Leclerc.

Norris and Piastri were well clear of the rest of the field, with the German's car in third, over half a second off the Australian's time.

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