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Lando Norris edged out fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the fastest time in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Norris, who seized the title advantage from his teammate by just one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, beat the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.

Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before sprint qualifying scheduled for the evening session.

Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the points battle, sitting 36 points behind Norris, finished in 17th position as his Red Bull team followed a different programme.

His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to have an incident, though minor, when he spun at Turn Four soon after starting.

Tsunoda lost control over the exit kerbs before rotating through the gravel trap, and was blessed to escape with just a light touch of the barrier.

Ferrari's the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the conclusion of the session, rotating twice through the high-speed Mergulho corner leading to the final corner on to the start-finish straight.

The veteran finished practice in 19th place, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.

The McLaren pair were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber in third, 0.619secs off the Australian's time.

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