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Lando Norris just pipped fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Norris, who seized the title advantage from his teammate by one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.

Until that point, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before the sprint shootout due at the evening session.

Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the points battle, trailing 36 points Norris, ended up in P17 as his team followed a alternative strategy.

His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, albeit lightly, when he lost control at corner four during the early running.

The Japanese slid over the track edges before spinning across the gravel trap, and was lucky to avoid just a minor contact of the barrier.

Ferrari's the seven-time champion also spun, at the final moments of the session, rotating twice through the fast downhill corner leading to the last turn on to the start-finish straight.

The veteran finished practice in P19, just behind teammate Charles Leclerc.

Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, 0.619 seconds off the Australian's time.

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