Abbi Pulling
F1 Academy champion on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

Being onboard with Lando Norris on that soft compound, you can really hear the traction and he's really struggling. Every time he goes for the throttle around the circuit, he's having the RMPs rise and wheel spin, so not really getting to grips with that. It didn't look like he was enjoying it too much, to be honest.

Championship leader Oscar Piastri goes fastest with a 1:44.817 on the soft tyre.

The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton is now out on track with Charles Leclerc following.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent

Lando Norris is just starting his lap here and he's on the soft tyres again. It's such an unusual tyre strategy by the teams. Normally, these runs at the beginning of final practice will be done on the medium or hard tyres, like Oliver Bearman did, because they're doing race preparation work on those first runs. Even though you'd expect Norris to be doing the same thing, he's on the soft tyres.

Just another hint that we might be seeing these medium tyres in qualifying later on today.

McLaren's Lando Norris is now out on track on the soft tyre.

He described his crash in FP2 as a "costly one," but he sets his first lap of the day and goes second, 0.091 seconds behind Oliver Bearman.

Fans are in full force this weekend and back with their creative signs.

One fan has brought a life-size Oscar Piastri, you can’t miss it in the crowd.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

The first team radio message is in with Isack Hadjar saying "the wind is pushing a lot on the right".

I expect to hear a lot of these messages during this session.

Rookie Oliver Bearman is the only man out on track at the moment on the hard tyres.

Image source, Reuters

Ben Edwards
F1 commentator on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

Some teams used the medium yesterday, some didn't. Both McLaren drivers, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, they have three sets of mediums, Charles Leclerc still has three sets of mediums but Lewis Hamilton has two sets available because he did run the medium tyre on Friday. You've got to get some information out of it, you've got to get a feel for it.

Image source, Pirelli Motorsport

The tyres Pirelli have selected for Baku are the C4 hard tyres, C5 mediums and C6 soft compounds.

This selection is one step softer than what was brought last year's Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

The green intermediate tyre and the blue full wets are also available should they be needed.

The drivers are looking pretty chill at the moment, there seems to be no rush for anyone to get out on track.

Although Liam Lawson and Oliver Bearman are now out doing their first runs.

Abbi Pulling
F1 Academy champion on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

Normally on circuits you'll be able to go out and rubber-in the track in FP1 and FP2 and by the time you get to FP3, it's really rubbered-in and really clean and ready to go.

But of course, this is a street circuit and it's used at night and it's opened up again to the public, so it just adds that level of, you don't know how the track is going to be the next morning, as well as the the wind now, the leaves on the track, even just getting them in your radiators as a driver is quite frustrating.

The drivers are out of their cars at the moment and are chatting with their engineers.

It's certainly looking windy out there and it will provide an element of unpredictability for the drivers.

Final practice goes green!

It’s a track with fine margins and the smallest of errors can be costly.

Let’s see if the battle between the McLarens and the Ferraris continues, or if there will be a new leader as the drivers have their last runs before qualifying.

Friday's practice sessions were warm and settled but but today's running will be hit with gusty winds, with a possible threat to rain during the final hour of practice. Conditions should dry up for qualifying at 4pm local time (1pm UK) but the strong winds may still be a factor.

Oscar Piastri is leading the drivers' championship by 31 points from McLaren team-mate Lando Norris after 16 rounds of racing. Max Verstappen's Italian Grand Prix victory has moved the Dutchman onto 230 points, 36 points clear of fourth-placed George Russell.

Alex Albon gained a place in the standings after he finished seventh at Monza and the Williams driver is now four points free of Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli in eighth.

Image source, BBC Sport

Here's what's coming up today and how you can follow it:

Third practice: 09:30-10:30 (BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, BBC Sounds and smart speakers)

Qualifying: 13:00-14:00 (BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, BBC Sounds and smart speakers)

Will McLaren be celebrating on Sunday? To be crowned champions for a 10th time - and with seven races still to go - the defending constructors' champions need to outscore second-placed Ferrari by nine points in Baku, while not being outscored by Mercedes by 12 points or more, and Red Bull by 33 points or more.

In the midfield battle, Racing Bulls are creeping up on Aston Martin, with just one point separating the two teams in the hunt to finish sixth in the standings.

Image source, BBC Sport

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Lewis Hamilton benefited from a slipstream from Charles Leclerc at the start of his lap to beat his team-mate by 0.074 seconds in Friday practice.

The seven-time champion told his engineer there were "some good learnings there", an apparent reference to the benefit of the tow, and Ferrari are considering employing it to gain grid positions in qualifying on Saturday.

Leclerc has been on pole position for the last four races in Baku, where his excellence on street circuits and in qualifying is at its most pronounced.

Image source, Getty Images

Good morning and welcome back to our live text coverage of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

This weekend has belonged to two teams so far, with McLaren’s Lando Norris and championship leader Oscar Piastri finishing one-two in FP1, and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc taking over the top spots in FP2.

The weather for final practice is set to feature gusty winds and potentially drizzle, so grab some coffee and breakfast as this could be an interesting session.

Final practice goes green at 09:30 BST.

Qualifying gets under way at 13:00 BST.

Commentary is available to listen to via the audio icon at the top of this page.

Tune in to Ben Edwards, F1 Academy 2024 champion Abbi Pulling and BBC’s F1 correspondent Andrew Benson.