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The McLaren driver edged out fellow driver and title rival Oscar Piastri for the quickest lap in the closing stages of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Norris, who grabbed the championship lead from Piastri by a single point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, outpaced the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.

Before then, Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before sprint qualifying due at 18:30 GMT.

Max Verstappen, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, sitting 36 points behind behind Norris, finished in 17th position as his Red Bull team opted for a unique setup.

Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, if briefly, when he spun at corner four early in the session.

Tsunoda spun out over the track edges before spinning across the escape zone, and was lucky to avoid just a slight brush of the fence.

Ferrari's the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the final moments of the session, rotating twice through the quick descending Mergulho turn before the final corner on to the main straight.

Hamilton wrapped up in 19th place, just behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.

Norris and Piastri were far ahead of the remaining drivers, with the German's Sauber in third, 0.619 seconds slower than Piastri's pace.

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