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The McLaren driver narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Norris, who grabbed the points lead from Piastri by just one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, beat the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.

Until that point, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before sprint qualifying set to begin at the evening session.

Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the points battle, lying 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.

His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to crash, though minor, when he lost control at corner four during the early running.

Tsunoda slid over the exit kerbs before sliding over the escape zone, and was lucky to get away with just a slight brush of the wall.

The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the final moments of the practice, rotating twice through the high-speed corner approaching the last turn on to the pit straight.

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

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

Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of George Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.