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The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and title rival the Australian for the quickest lap in the closing stages of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Norris, who grabbed the title advantage from Piastri by a single point after his victory in Mexico City a fortnight back, beat the Australian by a mere 0.023s.

Before then, Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before sprint qualifying set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.

Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the championship fight, sitting 36 points behind Norris, was classified in 17th place as his Red Bull team ran a different programme.

Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to go off, though minor, when he lost control at the fourth corner early in the session.

Tsunoda slid over the curbs on exit before rotating through the run-off area, and was blessed to get away with just a minor contact of the wall.

Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the conclusion of the practice, spinning around through the quick descending Mergulho corner approaching the final bend on to the pit straight.

The seven-time champion wrapped up in 19th, one place behind teammate Charles Leclerc.

Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the other competitors, with the German's Sauber in third, 0.619secs off Piastri's pace.

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