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The McLaren driver just pipped team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri for the top spot in the closing stages of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

The British racer, who grabbed the points lead from Piastri by one point after winning in Mexico City a fortnight back, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a mere 0.023s.

Before then, Piastri had been the leading McLaren during the running before the sprint shootout 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 behind Norris, was classified in 17th place as his team followed a alternative strategy.

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 spun out over the track edges before rotating through the escape zone, and was fortunate to escape with just a minor contact of the wall.

Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the conclusion of the practice, spinning around through the fast downhill Mergulho corner before the final corner on to the start-finish straight.

The seven-time champion ended the session in 19th place, trailing teammate the Monegasque driver.

The McLaren drivers were well clear of the remaining drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber in third, over half a second behind Piastri's best.

The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of the Mercedes of George Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.