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Lando Norris just pipped team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The British racer, who took the title advantage from Piastri by a single point after taking the win in Mexico City recently, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.

Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before sprint qualifying set to begin at 18:30 GMT.

The Red Bull star, the only other driver in realistic title contention, lying 36 points behind Norris, was classified in 17th position as his Red Bull team opted for a unique setup.

His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to go off, if briefly, when he lost control at Turn Four soon after starting.

Tsunoda lost control over the track edges before rotating through the escape zone, and was blessed to escape with just a minor contact of the wall.

The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the conclusion of the practice, spinning around through the high-speed corner before the final bend on to the start-finish straight.

The seven-time champion wrapped up in P19, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.

Norris and Piastri were well clear of the remaining drivers, with the German's car third fastest, 0.619secs slower than Piastri's best.

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