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The McLaren driver just pipped fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

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

Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before sprint qualifying due at the evening session.

Max Verstappen, the other racer in the points battle, trailing 36 points behind Norris, was classified in 17th place as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.

Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to have an incident, if briefly, when he rotated at Turn Four early in the session.

The Japanese spun out over the exit kerbs before sliding over the escape zone, and was lucky to get away with just a minor contact of the barrier.

Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the very end of the practice, turning around through the fast downhill Mergulho corner leading to the final bend on to the pit straight.

Hamilton wrapped up in P19, just behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.

The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber in third, 0.619secs off the Australian's time.

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