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The McLaren driver just pipped fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the quickest lap in the final moments of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Norris, who grabbed the championship lead from his teammate by a single point after his victory in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, outpaced the Australian by a mere 0.023s.

Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before the sprint shootout set to begin at 18:30 GMT.

Max Verstappen, the other racer in realistic title contention, sitting with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, ended up in 17th position as his team ran a alternative strategy.

His teammate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to crash, if briefly, when he spun at the fourth corner during the early running.

Tsunoda slid over the exit kerbs before spinning across the escape zone, and was fortunate to get away with just a minor contact of the wall.

Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the final moments of the session, rotating twice through the quick descending Mergulho corner leading to the final corner on to the pit straight.

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

The McLaren pair were well clear of the rest of the field, with the German's car P3, 0.619 seconds behind Piastri's best.

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