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Lando Norris edged out fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the top spot in the dying seconds of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The British racer, who grabbed the championship lead from Piastri by a single point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, outpaced the Australian by 0.023 seconds.

Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before the sprint shootout set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.

Max Verstappen, the only other driver in realistic title contention, lying with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, was classified in P17 as his team ran a alternative strategy.

His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to go off, albeit lightly, when he lost control at Turn Four early in the session.

The Japanese lost control over the track edges before rotating through the gravel trap, and was blessed to escape with just a slight brush of the fence.

The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the final moments of the practice, spinning around through the fast downhill Mergulho corner before the final corner on to the pit straight.

The veteran finished practice in P19, just behind teammate the Monegasque driver.

Norris and Piastri were well clear of the rest of the field, with the German's car P3, 0.619 seconds behind the Australian's time.

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