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Lando Norris narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the final moments of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Norris, who took the points lead from Piastri by just one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, topped the Australian by 0.023 seconds.

Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before sprint qualifying due at the evening session.

Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the points battle, trailing 36 points behind Norris, was classified in P17 as his Red Bull team opted for a different programme.

Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the only driver to have an incident, if briefly, when he lost control at the fourth corner during the early running.

The Japanese lost control over the track edges before spinning across the run-off area, and was lucky to get away with just a slight brush of the wall.

The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the conclusion of the practice, spinning around through the quick descending Mergulho turn before the final bend on to the main straight.

The veteran ended the session in P19, just behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.

Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the other competitors, with the German's Sauber in third, over half a second behind Piastri's pace.

The Aston Martin of the Spanish driver was in fourth, with Sauber's Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Sainz.