Kimi Antonelli has yet to put a marker down in Q1 and this latest attempt is not going to plan for the Italian rookie. He has a snap of oversteer around Turn 12 and then he runs wide at the tricky corner of 16, leaving him stuck in P12 on the timesheets.

Abbi Pulling
F1 Academy champion on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

Turn 16 can make or break a lap here because it's so important to get the run in this final sector.

Everyone has opted for the soft tyre other than the Red Bull's of Max Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda, and the McLaren's of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, who are all on the medium compounds.

Pierre Gasly is the first driver to take to the track in the Alpine, with the rest of the queue crawling out, trying to create a nice gap for themselves.

Over at Mercedes, Kimi Antonelli has been noted for a yellow-flag infringement. "I didn't see it," the Italian rookie told his engneer Pete Bonnington.

Abbi Pulling
F1 Academy champion on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

There's a bit of a risk as well because as soon as they come out of the garage they lose the tyre warmers. The risk of losing tyre temperature but of the benefit of gaining track position.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent

It's especially interesting because it looks like some of the other teams are going to have to use the mediums later in qualifying because they've got less softs than they usually would have at this stage of the weekend.

How is this split between the medium and the soft tyres going to work out over the duration of the qualifying sessions?

The session is about to resume after that red-flag period, so cars are waiting patiently at the end of the pit lane to get out.

Kimi Antonelli was also left to rue that Albon stoppage, so he and Oscar Piastri need to get a move on and bank a lap here.

"I have, like a branch on my rear right corner."

Abbi Pulling
F1 Academy champion on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

That's interesting, it's a peculiar place for Alex Albon to be stopped but there is definitely some damage to that car.

He clipped the inside apex, just getting a bit too eager on turn-in and maybe a bit more grip than he expected.

Albon hits wallpublished at 13:10 BST

13:10 BST

Well, live-text curse. I had Alex Albon down for a Q3 appearance. Oscar Piastri had to his abort his attempt, so the Australian is stuck down at the bottom of the pile without a lap time.

Red flagpublished at 13:08 BST

13:08 BST

The yellow flag has turned to red. Alex Albon has come to a stop and his front-left tyre took the brunt of the force of that impact at Turn One. "I'm out, sorry," says Albon to his Williams pit wall.

Charles Leclerc goes quickest on the red soft rubber with a 1:41.982, with Lando Norris slotting into second place, but his time is on the medium compound.

A yellow flag is out and it looks like it's for Alex Albon.

Abbi Pulling
F1 Academy champion on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

I think round here you want to get that qualifying time in on that first lap, at least bag a safe lap where you're not hitting walls, especially in Q1, you want to keep the car in tip-top shape.

We've seen lots of people going down the escape roads and causing drivers to abort their laps because there is a yellow flag. That will definitely be a factor going into this qualifying session.

The first times on the board are flying in from the midfield pack with the likes of Alex Albon and the Haas of Oliver Bearman banking early laps. Nico Hulkenberg twitches at Turn 15 and narrowly avoids any mishaps early doors in this opening Q1 session.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent

Although McLaren have dominated the season it doesn't look this weekend that they're going to dominate this session. It has looked very close between McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari.

The queue at the end of the pit lane is long and the wind is blowing strong still in Baku. Alex Albon leads out the field in the Williams on the soft tyre. The two McLarens and the two Red Bulls, however, are on the medium compound.

Image source, Getty Images

Racing Bull's Liam Lawson spoke to Sky Sports: "It's hectic here , I haven't been here in a few years, I raced here in F2. It's always busy and today with the wind, honestly FP3 was very very tricky.

"It's going to be a challenging qualifying, the sessions especially yesterday don't even mean that much because of how different the conditions are today."

On making any tweaks on the car: "Little things, the main thing is the conditions today so we have to change the car a little bit from yesterday just to deal with the wind and things like that.

"It's going to be a lot of learning through the session as well, so let's see."

Ian Fergusson
BBC weather forecaster

Air temperature 20.7C and track 26C. Windy; north-west wind gusting 25+mph in exposure and all manner of direction and gust nuances within the confines of this street circuit.

Occasional spots of light rain; FIA official risk of rain 20%.

Image source, Getty Images

Q1 is green.

If you're a fan of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix then good news, the race has secured its slot on the F1 calendar until 2030.

"The circuit is unique, with technical sections and long straights that run through the stunning shoreline and historic old town, delivering an eventful and entertaining race every year," said Formula 1 president Stefano Domenicali.

What role will the medium compound play in this qualifying session? This is the burning question up and down the pit wall today and the answer could be an important one. Is the yellow C5 rubber the key to Q3 success?

The tyres are one-step softer than last year's race, with the new C6 in play as the soft compound this time around and the C4 taking on the role as the hard this weekend.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Baku is a track where Max Verstappen generally, as a driver, has never been that comfortable: he doesn't like street circuits, he doesn't like these slow corners. Sergio Perez beat him here twice, and it's not a circuit you expect plays to the Red Bull's strength as a car. In cornering ability, it's much more at home in the high-speed corners - and there aren't really any high-speed corners here.

So, it's not a Red Bull track, and yet, look how competitive Verstappen is. So I think that suggests to Red Bull, on a micro level, they have made a step forward from Monza, and it is a holistic step forward with the car. But more importantly, what does that say about the championship battle? Max Verstappen is fighting for wins with McLaren all the time. And that really causes problems for Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris potentially.