Vettel on pole, Hamilton 2nd, Bottas 3rd
Race Sunday at 13:10 BST
Toro Rossos narrowly avoiding huge collision, Vandoorne out in Q1
Brendon Hartley struggled to stay on the track at times yesterday and he has the same problem today at turn 15. A big lock-up on his front right, he goes a long way into the run-off area, but manages to hold on to it just before pranging into the wall.
"The Ferrari was in the way," says Hartley.
Friday was a mixed day for Ferrari, today they are flying. First and second, Vettel leads Raikkonen.
Troubles for Ferrari? Doesn't look like it now.
Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer
There has been a lot of focus on McLaren’s lack of straight-line speed this season, especially as the car has been nowhere near as quick as the team predicted it would be. Excessive drag has been blamed for part of the deficit and McLaren arrived in Baku planning some experiments to try to make the car more efficient.
Fernando Alonso was quite quick on the straights on his way to sixth place - between the two Red Bulls - but he said some of that speed was down to picking up a tow from Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg on his fastest lap. Nevertheless, he felt McLaren had made progress.
“We tested a couple of things,” he said. “We picked up a little extra speed. It didn’t compromise the corners or the slow-speed sectors. It is going to be one of our weaknesses but hopefully less than in some other races.”
Alonso was seventh quickest and best of the rest but he said without the tow “maybe P9 or P10 was a more realistic position. It is going to be a close fight for Q3 and hopefully this time we are in and not out.”
Image source, Getty ImagesSebastian Vettel, after a miserable day yesterday, jumps to the top of the times with a 1:44.758.
The quickest time yesterday came from Daniel Ricciardo with a lap of 1:42.795 as a comparison.
That man Ricciardo is the first to set a time of 1:46.147, before Kimi Raikkonen warms up with a 1:45.075.
This is what former Renault man Jolyon Palmer thinks...
Image source, .Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer
Fresh from a brilliant win in China - which, yes, owed a lot to strategy, but where the Red Bull was also properly quick in race trim - Daniel Ricciardo was fastest in second practice on Friday, after being second and just a smidge behind Valtteri Bottas’ Mercedes in the morning.
“We look quick," Ricciardo said, although he admitted his wariness about the extra engine boost Mercedes and Ferrari have in qualifying. “Of course you want to improve, and we know that in qualifying they have this power mode, so they will be even closer. But on the other hand, we still have a bit as well, and this track is a lot about confidence, so if you really feel good in the car, you can get a bit of lap time as well.
"On short runs I'm still fine-tuning a bit what I lost in first practice but in the long runs I think we were very competitive.”
On race pace, the Red Bulls looked just as good. And with Max Verstappen recovering well from his inopportune shunt in P1, things are looking good for the team.
Image source, Getty ImagesDaniel Ricciardo won this race in 2017
Now, I might regret this, but with some big names struggling yesterday, dodgy weather conditions forecast for later on today and tomorrow and with last year being great, I'm expecting this to be a great two days of action.
A quick weather update for you.
Image source, .We are under way for practice session three. The sessions lasted 90 minutes yesterday, but today's one is reduced to an hour.
Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer
Things looked even worse for championship leader Sebastian Vettel on Friday than they did for Lewis Hamilton, but Vettel, despite being 11th, was not worried about his car. The time, he said, was all in him. The German talks a lot about “finding the rhythm”, and on Friday he had not. “The car is fine,” he said. “I didn’t get the laps together.”
Ferrari’s pace, then, was represented by Kimi Raikkonen, and he was less than 0.1secs off pace-setter Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull. On top of that, it seems Ferrari may have run too much downforce on Friday, as Vettel was significantly slower on the straight than the Red Bull.
Image source, Getty Images
BBC Radio 5 live sports extra
We are live on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra and you can listen along to Alex Jacques, Andrew Benson and Jolyon Palmer by pressing the play button at the top of this page.
Soft, supersoft or ultrasoft are your options this weekend.
A lot of cars were struggling with grip yesterday, with Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso and Brendon Hartley among those having to reverse back on the track after missing a corner and overshooting it.
Image source, PirelliAndrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer
Lewis Hamilton was on fire at the first race of the season in Australia but since then he has not looked his normal self. Difficult weekends in Bahrain and China, in which he was out-qualified by team-mate Valtteri Bottas, have been followed by another difficult Friday in Azerbaijan in which he was, yes, slower than Bottas. Not only that, but Mercedes as a team were off the pace again.
Hamilton said Friday had been a “smooth day” but admitted the team were “not quick enough”. A glance at the time sheets showed they were not quick enough to the tune of 0.7secs.
“I’m going to be knocking on the doors of all the engineers overnight, so that we can hopefully make the right changes,” he said. What will Saturday morning’s final practice bring for the world champion?
Image source, Getty ImagesJennie Gow and Jolyon Palmer have previewed this weekend's race in Baku and you can listen to the Chequered Flag Podcast by clicking on the link below.
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Spectacular Formula 1 settings
There is no doubt that the Azerbaijan Grand Prix looks stunning as the drivers race around the old city and the castle.
That is our inspiration for our debate today.
We want you to tell us the most spectacular settings and most visually appealing backdrops you have seen at Formula 1 races over the years.
Send us your thoughts via #bbcf1 and we will stick in some pictures of those events.
Image source, Getty ImagesAnd this is what Kevin Magnussen, Lewis Hamilton, Stoffel Vandoorne and Max Verstappen thought about Friday.
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Image source, .Here is what some of the drivers said on social media after the opening two practice sessions on Friday. These are the thoughts of Sergio Perez, Esteban Ocon, Valtteri Bottas and Nico Hulkenberg.
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Image source, .The second practice session was much better for Red Bull as China winner Daniel Ricciardo was the fastest man out there and a patched up Max Verstappen was third, sandwiched by an improving Kimi Raikkonen in his Ferrari.
But his team-mate Sebastian Vettel was only down in 11th and for the second time in the same day, Lewis Hamilton was slower than Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas.
Image source, Formula 1Max Verstappen ended the first session watching his mechanics fix his Red Bull after he had shot into the wall at turn five, but earlier on he had done enough to be sixth fastest.
Valtteri Bottas was the fastest in his Mercedes, with the Ferrari duo of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen down in 10th and 15th respectively.
Image source, Formula 1