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Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Norris, who seized the title advantage from Piastri by one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, topped the Australian by 0.023 seconds.

Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before the sprint shootout due at 18:30 GMT.

Max Verstappen, the other racer in the championship fight, lying 36 points Norris, was classified in P17 as his team followed a alternative strategy.

His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, if briefly, when he spun at Turn Four soon after starting.

The Japanese slid over the curbs on exit before spinning across the escape zone, and was blessed to escape with just a minor contact of the fence.

Ferrari's the seven-time champion also spun, at the very end of the practice, rotating twice through the quick descending Mergulho turn approaching the final bend on to the start-finish straight.

The veteran ended the session in 19th, just behind teammate the Monegasque driver.

The McLaren pair were far ahead of the other competitors, with the German's car in third, over half a second off the Australian's time.

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