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Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the quickest lap in the final moments of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Norris, who grabbed the title advantage from Piastri by one point after his victory 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 fastest McLaren driver for most of the session before sprint qualifying due at 6:30 PM GMT.

The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, sitting 36 points behind Norris, finished in 17th place as his Red Bull team followed a alternative strategy.

His teammate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, though minor, when he lost control at the fourth corner during the early running.

The Japanese lost control over the exit kerbs before rotating through the escape zone, and was lucky to get away with just a slight brush of the barrier.

Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the conclusion of the practice, turning around through the fast downhill corner approaching the final corner on to the main straight.

The seven-time champion ended the session in 19th, one place behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.

Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car P3, 0.619 seconds slower than the Australian's time.

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