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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 Brazilian Grand Prix.

The British racer, who took the title advantage from Piastri by a single point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, topped the Australian by a mere 0.023s.

Until that point, Piastri had been the quickest of the McLaren pair during the running before sprint qualifying scheduled for the evening session.

Max Verstappen, the other racer in realistic title contention, sitting with a 36-point deficit Norris, was classified in 17th position as his Red Bull team ran a alternative strategy.

His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, though minor, when he lost control at the fourth corner during the early running.

The Japanese slid over the track edges before rotating through the gravel trap, and was lucky to avoid just a minor contact of the barrier.

Ferrari's the seven-time champion also spun, at the final moments of the practice, spinning around through the quick descending corner before the final corner on to the pit straight.

Hamilton finished practice in P19, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.

Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with the German's Sauber P3, 0.619 seconds slower than the Australian's time.

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