Lando Norris pipped Oscar Piastri to the fastest time of the sole Interlagos practice session ahead of Friday evening's Sprint Qualifying at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

New title leader Norris produced a last-gasp pacesetting lap of 1:09.975 to get ahead of team-mate Piastri by 0.023s with the McLarens proving dominant on the practice timesheet going into the crucial Sprint weekend's first qualifying session at 6.30pm, live on Sky Sports F1.

But, unlike the papaya cars, Max Verstappen did not run the medium tyres during the hour of running and finished down in an unrepresentative 17th place.

The Red Bull driver did briefly run on the quickest compound, the softs, late in the session but abandoned the lap after being half a second down on Piastri's benchmark at that point of the session.

Verstappen was joined in the unusual confines at the foot of the order by Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, who finished 18th and 19th fastest respectively after both spending the whole session on the hard compound.

On his well-worn tyres, Hamilton had a late spin off track coming put of Turn 11, although avoided any contact with the barriers.

The same could not be said of Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda in the early minutes of the session, when he damaged his car in a spin going through Turn Four.

The Japanese driver missed the next 25 minutes of track action while the team completed repairs to his car's front and rear wings.

With Verstappen and the Ferraris towards the foot of the order, Sauber finished with both their cars in the top five - Nico Hulkenberg third ahead of Brazil's own Gabriel Bortoleto in fifth, making his debut appearance at his home race - while Fernando Alonso was fourth for Aston Martin.

More to follow...

Friday November 7
4.30pm: Team Principals' Press Conference
6pm: Sao Paulo GP Sprint Qualifying (session starts at 6.30pm)*

Saturday November 8
1pm: Sao Paulo GP Sprint build-up
2pm: SAO PAULO GP SPRINT*
3.30pm: Ted's Sprint Notebook
5pm: Sao Paulo GP Qualifying build-up
6pm: SAO PAULO GP QUALIFYING
8pm: Ted's Qualifying Notebook

Sunday November 9
3.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Sao Paulo GP build-up
5pm: THE SAO PAULO GRAND PRIX
7pm: Chequered Flag: Sao Paulo GP reaction
8pm: Ted's Notebook

*also on Sky Sports Main Event

Formula 1's thrilling title race continues in Brazil with a Sprint weekend at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix from this Friday, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW - no contract, cancel anytime