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The McLaren driver narrowly beat fellow driver and championship contender 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 one point after his victory in Mexico City recently, topped the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.

Earlier in the session, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before the sprint shootout set to begin at 6:30 PM GMT.

The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, sitting 36 points behind Norris, ended up in 17th position as his team opted for a different programme.

Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the only driver to crash, though minor, when he spun at Turn Four during the early running.

The Japanese lost control over the track edges before sliding over the gravel trap, and was lucky to get away with just a minor contact of the wall.

Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the very end of the practice, turning around through the high-speed Mergulho turn approaching the final corner on to the pit straight.

The seven-time champion ended the session in P19, trailing teammate Charles Leclerc.

Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the other competitors, with the German's car P3, over half a second behind Piastri's best.

The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Carlos Sainz.