Summary

Live Reporting

Lorraine McKenna

  1. Leclerc jumps to the top

    Is pole position number four on its way to Charles Leclerc? The Ferrari man tops Q1 with less than five minutes to go with a time 1:42.775 on the softs.

    George Russell has found the safety rope and climbed out of the drop zone to go second behind Leclerc by 0.364 seconds.

  2. Carls Sainz needs the aid of the escape road to shimmy his Ferrari out of danger. The two Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell are on the medium tyre and are searching for spots higher up the Q1 order.

  3. Marc Priestley
    Former F1 mechanic on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

    The circuit evolution is so great, the performance of the track and the grip level ramp up massively over the course of the weekend and even throughout this session.

  4. Danger zone

    16. George Russell

    17. Valtteri Bottas

    18. Daniel Ricciardo

    19. Pierre Gasly

    20. Zhou Guanyu

  5. The battle at the moment is between Sergio Perez and the two Ferraris. Carlos Sainz is next to cross the line and clocks a 1:43.517 to go second above team-mate Charles Leclerc on the timesheets.

    Woah. Franco Colapinto goes third-fastest. The Argentine Williams driver is just 0.109 seconds away from Sergio Perez's top marker.

  6. 10 minutes to go

    Max Verstappen is in third place but the world champion calls in to base to say the Red Bull is "jumping around like crazy on the rear axle".

  7. Marc Priestley
    Former F1 mechanic on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

    This is a circuit where if Red Bull can get this right and get their car working and get both their drivers in strong positions, they could really put a dent in this championship fight where McLaren are looking so strong at the moment.

  8. Perez quickest

    Now, here come the front-runners. Max Verstappen, aiming for a first win since the Spanish Grand Prix, hits a 1:43.644 but Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez drops the Dutchman down the order by clocking a marker 0.208 seconds quicker.

    Next up is Charles Leclerc, who can better Verstappen time but can't reach Perez just yet. The Ferrari driver settles in to second on the timesheets.

  9. The two Mercedes have headed out on the medium tyres, the rest of the field goes for the red soft compound. Valtteri Bottas, Yuki Tsunoda and now the Williams of Alex Albon have all gone to the top, but now it's rookie Franco Colapinto's who has set the fastest marker.

  10. Marc Priestley
    Former F1 mechanic on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

    One of the key to getting a good lap time is getting a clear lap, getting the space on track first of all because parts of this track are very narrow. If you come against another car on your flying lap, it's highly likely to hamper you.

  11. Reprimand for Leclerc

    Andrew Benson
    BBC F1 correspondent

    Charles Leclerc given a reprimand only for this. Complicated explanation centring on Leclerc being "fully under braking and any further braking would have resulted in an accident".

    He was passing a slowing Pierre Gasly and a yellow flag waved while he was in the braking zone.

  12. All 20 drivers are making their way out onto a track where finding a decent spot to start your lap is number one priority.

    News from race control regarding Charles Leclerc's investigation...

  13. 'This is kind of the holy grail when it comes to live sport'

    Marc Priestley
    Former F1 mechanic on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

    I'm so excited for this and the reason being is that it's a difficult one to call, we have no idea who is going to come out on top and that is kind of the holy grail when it comes to live sport.

  14. Go! Go! Go!

    Will we see a red flag in Q1?

    The green light is on.

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  16. Grid penalty for Zhou

    Zhou GuanyuGetty Images

    Some admin for us to take care of before qualifying.

    Zhou Guanyu can see into the future, as the Chinese driver already knows where he'll be starting Sunday's Azerbaijan Grand Prix - right at the back of the grid.

    Sauber have made some changes to his power-unit between practice sessions, fitting a third energy store and third control electronics to his car, exceeding the limit of two elements for the season.

  17. Andrew Benson
    BBC F1 correspondent

    Ferrari's Charles Leclerc is under investigation for failing to slow for yellow flags in final practice.

  18. The Haas garage is also hard at work putting the finishing touches to Ollie Bearman's car after the teenager's bump in third practice, so we should the Briton heading out with the rest of the field for Q1 shortly.

  19. What is the weather forecast for qualifying?

    Ian Fergusson
    BBC weather forecaster

    Air temperature is 27.1C and the track 37.5C. A light to moderate breeze from the NE.

    Dry conditions; FIA official risk of rain is 0%. Tomorrow's weather for the race will be similar.

  20. Will Perez still be the street king?

    Sergio PerezGetty Images

    The 2024 season has been difficult one for Sergio Perez, with the Mexican driver having to answer questions about his future at Red Bull and failing to make his presence felt in the drivers' championship.

    This weekend in Baku, however, Perez has a spring in his step and is pushing hard to keep hold of his title as the king of the street circuit.

    A high grid position would be welcomed with open arms following the team's difficulties in recent races. Perez himself took four podiums at the beginning of the season but has failed to join the cooldown room chat as part of the top three in the last 11 races.