Lando Norris is in a scrap with the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg and the RB of Yuki Tsunoda. The Japanese driver is holding his own against the McLaren and Norris has to settle in to 12th place.

Lance Stroll is the first to radio in to his pit wall, telling his Aston Martin crew he has a puncture.

DRS is enabled...

Josh Earl: This could be a long race, come on Lewis!!

Rimal: I could see a couple of them taking each other out in the first lap...

Marc Priestley
Former F1 mechanic on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

This is exactly what Leclerc needed to do and get away nice and steady, Piastri has done exactly the same thing.

If Piastri can stay with him till the end of this lap, he will be in that big slip stream at the very long straight at the beginning of Lap Two.

Charles Leclerc gets a speedy getaway and is clear of Oscar Piastri as the cars reach the first corner. The Red Bull of Sergio Perez has saw a chance to make an early move on the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz and the Mexican is up into third, the Spaniard, meanwhile, has dropped to fourth.

Max Verstappen has gained a place up to fifth and Lando Norris is making his way through the field already is now P13.

Image source, Getty Images

Fourth time lucky for Charles Leclerc?

Marc Priestley
Former F1 mechanic on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

Highly likely to be one-stop for most people, the likes of Lewis Hamilton who is starting from the pit-lane, Lando Norris who is starting a long way back, they might consider doing something a little bit different.

They've got very little to lose, and there is always a risk of a safety car or a red flag here because the walls are very close.

BBC Sounds

The commentary team are in position, primed and ready to take us through today's action.

You can listen on BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Sounds and at the top of this page using the 'listen live' tab. The race is also available via most smart speakers. Just ask BBC Sounds to play Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Ian Fergusson
BBC weather forecaster

Air temperature is 28.2C and the track 46.7C. Light wind from the NE, with gusts to ~19mph in the past hour. Sunny and dry; FIA official risk of rain is 0%.

Image source, Getty Images

With team-mate Lando Norris focusing on a recovery drive in Baku, Oscar Piastri can free his mind of McLaren's new papaya rules and concentrate on aiming for a second grand prix victory.

The Australian spied his chance to pass Norris on the opening lap in Monza, setting into motion McLaren's fresh approach to team orders in the remaining races.

But now he's up against the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, on a track that's a mix of wide and open one minute and tight and twisty the next - plus the slipstream dream of the long main straight.

The lights have gone out and the first lap ends clean and tidy, but who leads?

Hit the left thumb for Oscar Piastri.

Or click the right thumb for Charles Leclerc.

The top eight are starting on mediums, but Alex Albon is opting for the hard compound. Lando Norris down in 15th is also a hard runner.

Oliver Bearman, who is replacing Kevin Magnussen at Haas this weekend following the Dane's one-race ban, is starting P10 and told Sky Sports: "I want to have a clean start and clean first lap and hopefully I will have a good one."

Image source, Getty Images

The European leg of the season is done and dusted and now we move on to the final stint of the season that will play host to eight races including three sprint weekends.

In the drivers' championship, with 62 points separating Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, there is a maximum of 232 points still available: 25 for the race win, one point for fastest lap and eight points for a sprint victory.

Leaders Red Bull are clinging on to the top spot in the constructors' championship by eight points from McLaren and 39 points from third-placed Ferrari with eight rounds remaining. Will this be the weekend the six-time title winners have to give up their throne?

Image source, Getty Images

Max Verstappen, who remains in control of the drivers' championship, probably let out of a sigh of relief when he saw nearest challenger Lando Norris go out in Q1 yesterday. The gap between the pair is 62 points as we get ready for the race in Azerbaijan.

However, while talk has centred around Norris catching Verstappen, the McLaren driver might need to look over his shoulder now, as polesitter Charles Leclerc in third is only 24 points behind.

Image source, Getty Images

It's national anthem time in Azerbaijan and this week we are treated to a very theatrical performance, almost operatic. After that rousing rendition, the DJ sticks some tunes on and the TV cameras zoom in on model Naomi Campbell, wearing comically large white sunglasses, standing with Flavio Briatore on the grid...

Image source, Getty Images

"Vamos!" cried Franco Colapinto over the Williams team radio on Saturday.

The Argentine driver was taking part in his second ever qualifying session in Formula 1 and not only did the 23-year-old make it into Q2, he also booked a place in the top-10 shootout and qualified P9 for Sunday's race, which has now been upgraded to P8.

This is Colapinto's first time driving the adrenaline-fuelled streets of Azerbaijan and while he did rough up his car with a crash in first practice on Friday, he now has the chance of scoring his maiden F1 points if he can execute a clean race.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent

Image source, Pirelli 2024

On raw strategy, this should be a one-stop race, focused on the medium and hard-compound tyres; the hard being the best race option. But there is uncertainty over how the hard tyre will work - will it grain badly or not, which is why most teams have saved two sets of hard tyres for the race, just in case.

The high safety car chance is another reason for doing that. As Carlos Sainz pointed out on Saturday after qualifying, once one safety car happens, it tends to work as a "snowball effect" and lead to more drama, because the field gets bunched up.

Once the safety car gets involved, strategy can start to get a little wild. One might expect overtaking to be relatively straightforward given the long pit straight and the fact that the DRS zone has been lengthened this year compared to last.

But all the drivers have been saying how hard it is to overtake, partly because it is so hard to follow through the corners before the pit straight. Hence Lando Norris’ pessimism after qualifying on Saturday.

One thing that might help, though, is that the grip is so low that the two kinks early on the pit straight might not be flat in race trim. If they become corners, then that makes overtaking easier if the car behind can go faster through them.

Pit stop time is relatively low at about 21 seconds; half that under safety car.

Image source, Getty Images

Our old friend the safety car has been sat on the sidelines lately, watching the action unfold on a Sunday without incident.

But here in Azerbaijan, a crash, bang, wallop moment can happen at any time, and the green Aston Martin has already been required this morning following a huge smash towards the back of the field at the start of the Formula 2 feature race. Thankfully, everyone was OK.

We've seen red flags and delays sprinkled throughout this weekend's practice sessions, so will the race be as bonkers as previous years?

Image source, Getty Images

There were flashes yesterday of Red Bull being able to muscle back in on the top spots on the timesheets but by the close of qualifying, championship leader Max Verstappen had to settle for sixth on the grid. He was also out-qualified by his team-mate Sergio Perez, who lines up P4, for the first time in dog's age.

Verstappen said the team made some changes going into qualifying but the improvements to the car "actually made it worse".

While he still has a healthy buffer to Norris at the top of the championship, largely thanks to his seven wins this season, Verstappen has not celebrated a victory since the grand prix in Barcelona in June, and has only been on the podium twice in the last six races.

Image source, Getty Images

Oscar Piastri is the filling between two pieces of Italian bread in Baku, splitting the Ferraris in his papaya McLaren, and now has a clear run to fight for the race win without any interference.

After brushing off a rookie crash in first practice and ironing out some niggles with the car in the second session, Leclerc has looked a strong contender on the city streets and beat Australian Piastri to pole by 0.321 seconds.

P3 is a good result for Carlos Sainz, who admitted he has never been "100% hooked up" around Azerbaijan. "It’s a track that I tend to struggle with a bit," added the Spaniard, who also said his race pace has looked promising so far.