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Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The British racer, who grabbed the title advantage from his teammate by one point after winning in Mexico City two weeks ago, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.

Before then, Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before sprint qualifying due at 18:30 GMT.

Max Verstappen, the other racer in the points battle, lying 36 points behind Norris, finished in P17 as his team opted for a unique setup.

Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, though minor, when he spun at corner four early in the session.

The Japanese lost control over the curbs on exit before rotating through the gravel trap, and was lucky to avoid just a minor contact of the wall.

The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the very end of the practice, turning around through the high-speed Mergulho corner before the final corner on to the pit straight.

The seven-time champion finished practice in P19, trailing team-mate the Monegasque driver.

Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's car in third, over half a second slower than Piastri's pace.

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