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Lando Norris just pipped fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the quickest lap in the closing stages of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Norris, who seized the championship lead from his teammate by one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, outpaced the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.

Before then, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before the sprint shootout due at 6:30 PM GMT.

Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, lying 36 points behind behind Norris, ended up in 17th position as his Red Bull team opted for a different programme.

Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the only driver to have an incident, if briefly, when he rotated at corner four soon after starting.

Tsunoda slid over the exit kerbs before rotating through the gravel trap, and was lucky to avoid just a slight brush of the fence.

Ferrari's the seven-time champion also spun, at the very end of the session, rotating twice through the fast downhill Mergulho corner leading to the final corner on to the pit straight.

The veteran ended the session in P19, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.

The McLaren pair were well clear of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber third fastest, 0.619 seconds off the Australian's time.

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