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The McLaren driver edged out fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the closing stages of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The British racer, who grabbed the title advantage from Piastri by a single point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.

Until that point, Oscar Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before sprint qualifying set to begin at 18:30 GMT.

The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, lying with a 36-point deficit Norris, finished in 17th place as his Red Bull team followed a unique setup.

Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to go off, albeit lightly, when he lost control at corner four during the early running.

Tsunoda slid over the track edges before spinning across the escape zone, and was lucky to get away with just a slight brush of the barrier.

Ferrari's the seven-time champion also spun, at the final moments of the session, turning around through the fast downhill Mergulho corner leading to the last turn on to the start-finish straight.

The veteran finished practice in 19th place, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.

The McLaren drivers were well clear of the other competitors, with the German's Sauber in third, over half a second behind Piastri's pace.

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