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The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the top spot in the dying seconds of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Norris, who took the title advantage from Piastri by a single point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.

Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before sprint qualifying set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.

Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, sitting 36 points Norris, was classified in 17th place as his Red Bull team opted for a unique setup.

His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the sole competitor to go off, if briefly, when he rotated at the fourth corner soon after starting.

The Japanese lost control over the curbs on exit before spinning across the gravel trap, and was lucky to avoid just a minor contact of the fence.

Ferrari's the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the conclusion of the practice, turning around through the quick descending Mergulho corner before the final corner on to the pit straight.

The seven-time champion finished practice in 19th, trailing teammate Charles Leclerc.

The McLaren drivers were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car P3, 0.619secs slower than Piastri's best.

Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Bortoleto ahead of Mercedes' Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Sainz.