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Lando Norris edged out fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the closing stages of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

The British racer, who took the title advantage from his teammate by a single point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, topped the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.

Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before the sprint shootout scheduled for 18:30 GMT.

The Red Bull star, the other racer in the championship fight, lying 36 points behind Norris, finished in P17 as his Red Bull team ran a unique setup.

Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he lost control at the fourth corner early in the session.

Tsunoda lost control over the exit kerbs before sliding over the gravel trap, and was blessed to avoid just a light touch of the barrier.

The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the final moments of the practice, rotating twice through the fast downhill Mergulho turn approaching the final corner on to the start-finish straight.

Hamilton finished practice in P19, one place behind teammate Charles Leclerc.

The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber in third, over half a second slower than Piastri's best.

Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.