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The McLaren driver just pipped fellow driver and championship contender Oscar Piastri for the fastest time in the dying seconds of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Norris, who took the championship lead from his teammate by just one point after taking the win in the Mexican Grand Prix recently, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.

Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the leading McLaren throughout the hour before the sprint shootout scheduled for 6:30 PM GMT.

The Red Bull star, the sole remaining contender in the points battle, lying 36 points behind Norris, finished in 17th position as his Red Bull team opted for a alternative strategy.

Verstappen's team-mate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to have an incident, though minor, when he lost control at Turn Four soon after starting.

The Japanese slid over the curbs on exit before sliding over the escape zone, and was fortunate to get away with just a minor contact of the fence.

The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton also lost it, at the conclusion of the practice, rotating twice through the high-speed Mergulho turn before the last turn on to the start-finish straight.

The seven-time champion finished practice in 19th place, just behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.

Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber in third, over half a second slower than the Australian's time.

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