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The McLaren driver edged out team-mate and title rival the Australian for the fastest time in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

The British racer, who seized the points lead from his teammate by one point after taking the win in Mexico City a fortnight back, beat the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.

Before then, Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before the sprint shootout due at 6:30 PM GMT.

Max Verstappen, the only other driver in realistic title contention, sitting 36 points Norris, was classified in 17th place as his team opted for a alternative strategy.

His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to go off, if briefly, when he rotated at corner four early in the session.

Tsunoda slid over the curbs on exit before rotating through the run-off area, and was fortunate to get away with just a slight brush of the fence.

Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the conclusion of the session, spinning around through the high-speed Mergulho corner approaching the last turn on to the start-finish straight.

The seven-time champion finished practice in P19, trailing teammate Charles Leclerc.

The McLaren pair were well clear of the remaining drivers, with the German's car P3, 0.619 seconds slower than the Australian's time.

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