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The McLaren driver edged out fellow driver and championship contender the Australian for the top spot in the dying seconds of the practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

The British racer, who took the points lead from his teammate by just one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, outpaced the Australian by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.

Before then, Oscar Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before the sprint shootout set to begin at 18:30 GMT.

The Red Bull star, the other racer in the championship fight, lying 36 points Norris, ended up in P17 as his team ran a different programme.

Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, though minor, when he spun at the fourth corner during the early running.

The Japanese lost control over the exit kerbs before sliding over the run-off area, and was lucky to avoid just a slight brush of the fence.

The Ferrari of the seven-time champion also spun, at the very end of the session, spinning around through the quick descending Mergulho turn leading to the final bend on to the pit straight.

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

The McLaren pair were far ahead of the other competitors, 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 Bortoleto fifth from Mercedes' Russell and Alpine's Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz.