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Lando Norris edged out team-mate and title rival the Australian for the top spot in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Norris, who seized the points lead from his teammate by just one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.

Until that point, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before the sprint shootout set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.

Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the championship fight, lying 36 points behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his team ran a different programme.

His teammate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, albeit lightly, when he spun at Turn Four early in the session.

The Japanese lost control over the exit kerbs before sliding over the run-off area, and was blessed to avoid just a light touch of the fence.

The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the final moments of the session, rotating twice through the fast downhill Mergulho turn before the final corner on to the start-finish straight.

The veteran finished practice in 19th, just behind teammate Charles Leclerc.

The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, 0.619secs off the Australian's time.

The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.