1997 F1 champion Jacques Villeneuve has highlighted Lando Norris' strong position over the rest of the pack following final practice in Mexico.
Norris' fastest lap time from the session saw him head the pack by over three-tenths of a second ahead of qualifying.
Norris is seeking to continue to close the gap to the championship leader and team-mate Oscar Piastri in the final five rounds, having out-scored the Australian at the last four events.
Villeneuve offered a boost to Norris as he signalled the Briton appears to have a strong hold over both his qualifying and race pace ahead of the competitive sessions.
“Do you go for the perfect quali setup to be in front?” Villeneuve said on Sky F1. “Or do you want a slightly better race setup?
“Here, you don’t want to be on pole anyway so you probably should go for the race setup.
“We’ve seen how complicated it was during the long runs yesterday, but he’s got both in control now.”
While Norris is looking to close the gap to Piastri, he is also looking over his shoulder at Max Verstappen, who has taken a huge chunk out of McLaren's title advantage at recent rounds.
Villeneuve suggested Norris is now having to pay more attention to the four-time champion than Piastri as the campaign enters its final rounds.
“He’s more focused on Max than his team-mate,” he said. “He doesn’t want Max to get closer to in the championship.
“He knows he’s quicker than his team-mate, he probably knows he will get ahead of him at some point, if he carries on like this.
“Max is the threat for him. But also, is there a point where McLean will start having a team order?
“At that point, they will choose whichever driver is ahead of the other. So that’s why it’s important to get ahead of his team-mate.”
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