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The McLaren driver just pipped fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the fastest time in the closing stages of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

The British racer, who seized the championship lead from Piastri by just one point after winning in Mexico City a fortnight back, beat the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.

Until that point, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair for most of the session before the sprint shootout due at 6:30 PM GMT.

Max Verstappen, the only other driver in realistic title contention, lying 36 points behind Norris, finished in 17th place as his Red Bull team ran a different programme.

Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, if briefly, when he rotated at Turn Four soon after starting.

The Japanese slid over the track edges before rotating through the escape zone, and was lucky to escape with just a minor contact of the wall.

Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the final moments of the session, spinning around through the fast downhill Mergulho turn before the final bend on to the start-finish straight.

Hamilton finished practice in 19th place, trailing teammate Charles Leclerc.

The McLaren drivers were far ahead of the other competitors, with the German's Sauber P3, over half a second behind Piastri's pace.

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