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

The British racer, who grabbed the points lead from Piastri by one point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, topped the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.

Until that point, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before the sprint shootout scheduled for 18:30 GMT.

The Red Bull star, the only other driver in realistic title contention, sitting 36 points behind behind Norris, was classified in 17th place as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.

His teammate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to go off, albeit lightly, when he spun at Turn Four during the early running.

The Japanese spun out over the exit kerbs before sliding over the gravel trap, and was blessed to escape with just a slight brush of the wall.

Ferrari's the seven-time champion also lost it, at the very end of the session, rotating twice through the quick descending Mergulho corner leading to the final corner on to the start-finish straight.

The seven-time champion ended the session in 19th place, just behind teammate the Monegasque driver.

Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the other competitors, with the German's car in third, 0.619secs slower than Piastri's pace.

Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was in fourth, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of George Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.