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The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the top spot in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The British racer, who took the points lead from Piastri by a single point after taking the win in Mexico City two weeks ago, topped the Australian by 0.023 seconds.

Before then, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before sprint qualifying due at 18:30 GMT.

The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, sitting 36 points behind Norris, was classified in 17th place as his team followed a different programme.

His teammate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, though minor, when he spun at the fourth corner early in the session.

The Japanese slid over the track edges before rotating through the gravel trap, and was lucky to avoid just a minor contact of the barrier.

Ferrari's the seven-time champion also spun, at the conclusion of the session, spinning around through the fast downhill corner before the last turn on to the start-finish straight.

The veteran ended the session in P19, trailing team-mate Charles Leclerc.

The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the other competitors, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, over half a second behind the Australian's time.

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