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The McLaren driver edged out fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the fastest time in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The British racer, who took the championship lead from his teammate by a single point after his victory in Mexico City two weeks ago, beat the Australian by a mere 0.023s.

Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before sprint qualifying due at 18:30 GMT.

The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the championship fight, sitting with a 36-point deficit behind Norris, ended up in P17 as his Red Bull team opted for a different programme.

Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, if briefly, when he spun at corner four early in the session.

Tsunoda slid over the curbs on exit before spinning across the gravel trap, and was lucky to avoid just a light touch of the barrier.

The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the final moments of the practice, turning around through the quick descending Mergulho turn approaching the last turn on to the pit straight.

The seven-time champion wrapped up in 19th, one place behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.

The McLaren drivers were far ahead of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's car in third, over half a second slower than Piastri's pace.

Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was in fourth, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' Russell and Alpine's Gasly and Williams' Sainz.