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McLaren's Lando Norris extended his championship lead to nine points as he won the Sao Paulo Grand Prix sprint race while team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri crashed out.
Piastri lost control through Turn Three on lap six of the race and spun into the barriers, the latest in a series of blows to the Australian's title chances.
The race was stopped after both Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Alpine's Franco Colapinto crashed in the same place, fortunately neither hitting Piastri's car or each other.
When the race restarted, Norris held off a challenge from Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli to take the win, while the second Mercedes of George Russell took third from Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
Norris said: "It was tough, it makes the win a little bit more rewarding when you have a race like this, especially with Kimi Antonelli, he was certainly not making my life easy.
"It was definitely not an easy race but probably the race you expect in Brazil, it's always a difficult one."
The race ended just after Gabriel Bortoleto had a high-speed crash in his Sauber at the end of the pit straight.
Bortoleto was trying to pass Williams' Alex Albon but appeared to hit a wet patch on the track as he braked. He smashed into the inside wall and then spun wildly across the track into the barriers on the outside. Sauber confirmed that following medical checks, he was "OK and uninjured".
Behind Verstappen, who is now 39 points behind Norris in the championship, Ferrari's Charles Leclerc finally managed to pass Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso with two laps to go after stalwart defence from the veteran Spaniard.
But Alonso managed to hold off Leclerc's team-mate Lewis Hamilton to take sixth, as Hamilton and Alpine's Pierre Gasly took the final points.
Qualifying for Sunday's main grand prix is at 18:00 GMT.
Despite overnight rain, the track, though damp, was dry enough for slick tyres at the start and Norris led Antonelli and Piastri away in grid order, while Verstappen moved up to fifth ahead of Alonso and behind Russell.
Piastri's crash came as he hooked his inside wheel over the kerb at Turn Three, which immediately pitched his car into a spin and into the barriers.
He sat in the car with his fingers inside his visor as he rued the likely damage to his title hopes.
"Just trying to put this behind (me)," Piastri said. "There is a lot more points on offer tomorrow, so the better job I can do to get myself a good starting spot, the better it will be."
It was his fifth major mistake in as many races after a crash-strewn outing in Baku in September, and a collision at the start of the sprint race in Austin three weeks ago.
Since Piastri won the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August, Norris has made up 43 points on his team-mate in five weekends and a sprint race and has strong momentum in the championship.
Although there were yellow flags waving, both Hulkenberg and Colapinto made the same mistake, each hitting the barrier a little earlier than the car before had done.
For the restart, Norris and Alonso switched to soft tyres while the Mercedes and Ferrari drivers and Verstappen went for mediums.
The mediums were the better choice - Norris came under pressure from Antonelli in the closing laps but was able to fend him off.
Alonso had even stiffer pressure from the Ferraris, but his defence finally cracked when he locked a wheel into Turn One and Leclerc was able to get a run on him into Turn Four and pass on the inside.
1. Lando Norris (McLaren)
2. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)
3. George Russell (Mercedes)
4. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
5. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
6. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
7. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
8. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
