Definitely windy on the track as the singer's dress is being blown around as she sings the national anthem.

Even Chase Carey's moustache is getting ruffled about a bit.

Sebastian Vettel is chasing his third win in the first four races of the 2018 season.

On each of the past 13 times when a driver has won three of the opening four grands prix they have gone on to win the title.

The last man to fail to do so was Ayrton Senna in 1989. He came 11th in the season opener in Brazil before winning in San Marino, Monaco and Mexico. However, he only came second overall in the championship, losing out to Alain Prost.

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Romain Grosjean has a lot of work to do. The only way is up for Grosjean, who starts right at the back.

Image source, Romain Grosjean Twitter

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Lewis Hamilton's fourth-placed finish in China set a new record of number of consecutive finishes in the points.

That was the 28th time in a row he had picked up points since his engine blew up when leading the Malaysia Grand Prix in October 2016, a result that went on to cost him that year's world title.

Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas is also in a consistent run, with 18 points finishes in a row. His last DNF was the fifth race of last season, in Spain.

Christina Aguilera was in the Mercedes garage a minute ago, and here she is with some of the Williams crew.

How about this for a fancy dress line up? Kudos to those dressed up as Carlos Sainz and Nico Hulkenberg. Great stuff.

Image source, Formula 1 Twitter

Singing sensation Christina Aguilera is today's A-List celebrity race spot.

The multi-award winning popstar is hanging out in the Mercedes garage with Lewis Hamilton.

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The yellow softs, the red supersofts and the purple ultrasofts are all up the teams' sleeves today, so to speak.

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Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

Force India impressed greatly in qualifying, taking the position of best of the rest by a clear half a second from Renault, Esteban Ocon a sniff ahead of Sergio Perez. And Williams were also in better shape than they have been so far in what has been a difficult start to the season, with Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin qualifying 11th and 12th.

Force India have a few new aerodynamic bits and Williams also have been improving their car in a fashion technical chief Paddy Lowe described as “bit by bit".

He added: "It is great for morale to get two cars in the top of Q2 and almost into Q3 and also some incremental improvements we’ve made in all sorts of areas, whether to the car or operationally, but on the other hand this circuit suits our car well and we are not under the illusion we have made this much progress in terms of overall performance.”

So what was it, really, that explained this upturn? Both teams have the Mercedes engine and the reality is that while Ferrari have impressed with an upturn in power this year, the Mercedes is still more effective than the rest at hybrid energy recovery and deployment, and the Baku track is where this is revealed more than anywhere else.

In short, Mercedes have access to maximum power for longer around this lap than anyone else. Hence the upturn in performance of their customer teams. The corollary, of course, is that the factory Mercedes cars would be struggling even more than they already are were it not for this engine advantage.

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Fish Hailu: Lewis Hamilton should win this one. If Mercedes get their strategies right, he will put Vettel under immense pressure right from the start. Wish him smooth race.

Kayleigh: Come on Seb, convert that pole into the win today please. Points for both McLaren boys would be great too.

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You know it is windy when the red carpet is all over the place...

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Ian Fergusson
BBC weatherman

How are the conditions looking?

25 mins to the start of what will be a windy event, with gusts circa 50mph and funelling effects between buildings adding to v tricky conditions. 17C and dry... which is just as well, given MeteoFrance had to dismantle the radar due to strong winds!

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

Mercedes have not won a race this year, but the facts are they could have won all three had circumstances worked out differently. They do not have the fastest car in Baku, at least over one lap.

There was no question Ferrari should have had another one-two on the grid. But then the Mercedes was not the fastest car in qualifying Bahrain and China either. “We’re in the mix,” Lewis Hamilton said. “This is the fifth-best track to overtake, I think. It doesn’t mean it’s impossible but I’ll try to give Sebastian (Vettel) a hard time.”

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This is the first time in the hybrid turbo era (which began at the start of the 2014 season) where Mercedes have gone three consecutive races without a win.

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John McEnerney: This race is made for a master craftsman like Fernando Alonso to keep a cool ruthless head while all others are losing theirs slowly picking off those ahead of him. If his car lasts he’ll be in the top five if he’s lucky he might nick a spot on the podium. Still the best driver!

Joanna Harran: Happy race day everyone. Hang on to your hats guys, looks a breezy one. Should make an interesting race.

Lady T: Vettel will start as leader, Bottas will jump Hamilton, Hamilton either stays 3rd or wheelspins ending 5th by lap 2. Ferrari has faster car without a doubt ... Mercedes to mess up strategies AGAIN.

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Remember, we start at 13:10 BST. Not long to wait...

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Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

Red Bull looked the form car on Friday in Azerbaijan, but they dropped back on Saturday and qualified in their usual place at the back of the lead group - apart from Kimi Raikkonen, who made mistakes on both his laps.

But Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said he believed Red Bull had “compromised their single-lap performance for race performance.

"They were extremely fast on a lap yesterday but their long run showed a lot of degradation and the work they did was towards the race so I expect them to be very strong the race, but the good part is overtaking in the middle part is really difficult and it could as well be a one-stop race and if that is the case track position in the first stint is very important so starting first, second and third is an advantage that will be difficult to overcome.”

Perhaps, but Daniel Ricciardo won last year having dropped to 18th at one point, and everyone knows how aggressive he and Max Verstappen are. Starting fourth and fifth, they can be expected to be in the mix and, as Wolff also said, “strategy has become much tricker when there are six drivers in the hunt for a win and sometimes it is very difficult to predict the outcome”.

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Max Verstappen starts fifth and is up for the challenge.

Image source, Max Verstappen Twitter

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A win today for Sebastian Vettel would be the 50th of his career and he would become only the fourth man to reach that figure after Michael Schumacher (91), Lewis Hamilton (62) and Alain Prost (51).

Four-time world champion Vettel won his first race in September 2008 at the Italian Grand Prix while driving for Toro Rosso.

JJ: Start will be marred with a massive pileup at the front. After race restarts, Vandoorne, having avoided any damage from the accident, will lead and win the race. Why not? It's Baku!

Jeremiah Kariuki: In the dash to the first corner, there will be Kimi and Max to push each other out. Hamilton definitely to play caution which may allow Bottas and Daniel to zoom past. There will be Safety Car in the race. You can bet the most likely to bring it out. The likes of Grosjean, Max and Hartley....

Rich Scales: Cant tell you who will win, but Verstappen will be in the headlines for something tomorrow.... thats a given.

Vandoorne to win? That's just the sort of maverick prediction I like. Good work!

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