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The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Norris, who grabbed the points lead from Piastri by one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, topped the Australian by 0.023 seconds.

Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before the sprint shootout set to begin at 18:30 GMT.

The Red Bull star, the only other driver in the championship fight, lying 36 points behind Norris, finished in 17th place as his Red Bull team followed a unique setup.

His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, albeit lightly, when he spun at Turn Four early in the session.

Tsunoda spun out over the track edges before rotating through the gravel trap, and was lucky to get away with just a minor contact of the barrier.

The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the final moments of the session, rotating twice through the fast downhill Mergulho turn approaching the final corner on to the main straight.

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

The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with the German's Sauber third fastest, over half a second behind Piastri's pace.

The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of Russell and Alpine's Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.