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Lando Norris just pipped fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the top spot in the dying seconds of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The British racer, who seized the title advantage from Piastri by a single point after his victory in Mexico City recently, outpaced the Australian by a mere 0.023s.

Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before the sprint shootout scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.

The Red Bull star, the only other driver in the points battle, sitting with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, was classified in P17 as his team opted for a different programme.

Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, if briefly, when he lost control at Turn Four during the early running.

The Japanese lost control over the exit kerbs before spinning across the escape zone, and was fortunate to get away with just a light touch of the fence.

Ferrari's the seven-time champion also lost it, at the final moments of the session, turning around through the high-speed corner leading to the last turn on to the pit straight.

The seven-time champion finished practice in P19, just behind teammate Charles Leclerc.

The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the remaining drivers, with the German's car in third, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's best.

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