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Lando Norris edged out team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the fastest time in the final moments of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

The British racer, who grabbed the points lead from his teammate by a single point after taking the win in Mexico City a fortnight back, beat the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.

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

Max Verstappen, the other racer in the championship fight, sitting 36 points Norris, finished in 17th place as his team ran a different programme.

Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, if briefly, when he lost control at the fourth corner early in the session.

Tsunoda slid over the exit kerbs before sliding over the escape zone, and was blessed to avoid just a minor contact of the fence.

Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the very end of the practice, turning around through the fast downhill Mergulho corner before the final bend on to the main straight.

Hamilton finished practice in 19th, just behind teammate Charles Leclerc.

The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car in third, over half a second slower than the Australian's time.

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