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Lando Norris narrowly beat fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the final moments of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

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

Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair throughout the hour before sprint qualifying set to begin at 18:30 GMT.

Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, trailing 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th place as his Red Bull team followed a unique setup.

Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to crash, if briefly, when he lost control at the fourth corner soon after starting.

The Japanese lost control over the track edges before rotating through the escape zone, and was lucky to avoid just a light touch of the barrier.

Ferrari's the seven-time champion also spun, at the very end of the session, rotating twice through the high-speed Mergulho turn leading to the final corner on to the main straight.

Hamilton finished practice in P19, one place behind teammate the Monegasque driver.

The McLaren pair were far ahead of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber P3, 0.619secs behind Piastri's pace.

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