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Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the closing stages of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Norris, who took the championship lead from his teammate by a single point after winning in Mexico City recently, beat the Australian by 0.023 seconds.

Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before the sprint shootout set to begin at 18:30 GMT.

The Red Bull star, the only other driver in the points battle, trailing 36 points behind Norris, finished in 17th position as his team opted for a alternative strategy.

His teammate the Japanese driver was the only driver to have an incident, though minor, when he lost control at the fourth corner early in the session.

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

The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the conclusion of the session, turning around through the fast downhill corner before the last turn on to the start-finish straight.

Hamilton wrapped up in 19th place, just behind teammate Charles Leclerc.

The McLaren pair were far ahead of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber in third, 0.619secs behind Piastri's pace.

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