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

Norris, who took the championship lead from his teammate by one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.

Until that point, Piastri had been the leading McLaren for most of the session before sprint qualifying set to begin at the evening session.

Max Verstappen, the only other driver in the points battle, lying 36 points behind Norris, finished in 17th position as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.

Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the only driver to have an incident, if briefly, when he rotated at Turn Four during the early running.

Tsunoda spun out over the curbs on exit before sliding over the gravel trap, and was lucky to escape with just a minor contact of the fence.

The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the conclusion of the session, turning around through the quick descending Mergulho turn leading to the final corner on to the pit straight.

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

Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber P3, 0.619secs behind the Australian's time.

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