BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra

Press the play button at the top right now as our excellent commentary team of Jack Nicholls, Jolyon Palmer, Jennie Gow and Andrew Benson are in position to bring you all the action from qualifying.

We're also live on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra if you wish to listen via there too.

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

A bit of an update on Ferrari. They say their positions looked worse than reality in final practice because they were on used tyres at the end of the session and caught some traffic.

They think they are about where they were on Friday (which is still bad, because Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel were 15th and 17th then, rather than 17th and 20th as they were this morning). That still begs the following question - if they are struggling to make the tyres work because they are running low downforce to compensate for their lack of straight-line speed, why not run more downforce to get the tyres to work and try to make up more in the corners than they are losing on the straights?

Their answer to that is that they cannot compromise their speed on the straight too much because they will need it to make up positions in the race. The problem with that is that if they are slow, they might not be able to make up positions, and starting so far back their race is pretty much done anyway. Still, let’s see what happens in qualifying.

Jimmy O'Shea: Normally when a team vastly under-performs it's only their fans that worry. With Ferrari doing exactly that I think it's slightly different. All Formula One fans are affected by it in different ways.

Jon Harber: Racing Point need to capitalise on their car, drivers and strategy not being converted into points - they should be challenging for the championship.

Michael Schumacher holds the record for most wins at Spa with six.

He won from 16th on the grid in the wet at the 1995 race. He was with Benetton at the time, as he was for his first Belgian win in 1992.

His last four successes - 1996, 1997, 2001 and 2002 - came in Ferrari colours.

Image source, Getty Images

Ferrari have been the most successful team in the history of the Belgian Grand Prix, winning 18 times since it became a part of the Formula 1 world championship in 1950.

Sebastian Vettel triumphed in 2018 with Charles Leclerc starting and ending at the front last year.

And Ocon's...

There is a tribute to Anthoine Hubert on the helmets of both Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon this weekend. Here's Gasly's...

Image source, Getty Images

This weekend's race will be preceded by a minute's silence in memory of Formula Two driver Anthoine Hubert.

The French driver died after crashing in an F2 race at last year's meeting at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit.

An emblem that reads AH19 will also be displayed on all the F1 cars.

Hubert was a close friend of many current F1 drivers including Pierre Gasly and Charles Leclerc.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, F1

These were the times in third practice earlier on. A repeat of this would see both Ferraris eliminated in Q1.

The last time that happened was at Silverstone in 2014 with Fernando Alonso 19th and Kimi Raikkonen 20th out of 22 entrants in the wet.

Before that you have to go back to Sepang in 2010 and the Malaysian Grand Prix. Back then there were 24 cars and the bottom seven went out in Q1. Fernando Alonso was 19th and Felipe Massa was 21st - again in wet conditions.

Image source, Getty Images

Charles Leclerc secured his maiden Formula 1 win in Belgium last year, winning from pole position.

However, getting pole at Spa isn't a guaranteed victory. Of the last 18 races here, half have been won from right at the front of the grid.

In 2019 it was an all-Ferrari front row. It is going to be one unbelievable qualifying session later on if history is to repeat itself.

Ferrari were 17th and 20th in third practice.

It's that time of the weekend. So tweet us using the hashtag #bbcf1 and tell us what you want and expect to see happening in qualifying.

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

Formula 1 is to use a brand new layout of Bahrain’s Sakhir track for the second race to be held in the Gulf state this year.

Bahrain will hold events on 29 November and 6 December towards the end of the 17-race championship. The first will be held on the usual Grand Prix circuit, while the second will be on what is known as Sakhir’s “Outer Circuit”.

This shortens the track to 2.28 miles and is expected to produce qualifying lap times of less than 55 seconds. The outer circuit deviates from the Grand Prix circuit just after Turn Four and rejoins it at Turn 13, cutting out the entire infield section. In addition, the event will be a full night race, rather than the now-traditional twilight start for Bahrain.

F1 managing director Ross Brawn said: “We assessed a number of options for the alternative circuit layout and concluded the outer circuit will provide the best alternative and will provide a new challenge for all the teams and entertain all our fans with high speeds and fast lap times.”

Then yesterday came some exciting news concerning race number 16 - the second one in Bahrain...

Some big news from Formula 1 since the last race in Spain and that is the announcement of the final four races of the 2020 season.

That brings the total to 17 races this year, which in these circumstances is going to be a great effort.

It's a return to Istanbul, two races in two weeks in Bahrain and then the season-ender in Abu Dhabi.

Next up is an Italian double-header, beginning with Monza, in what is usually Ferrari's home race, and then Mugello at Ferrari's home track.

Image source, F1

Image source, F1

"Oh, this is terrible, this is quite appalling, this is the worst start to a grand prix I have ever seen in the whole of my life."

Legendary commentator Murray Walker was seldom lost for words and true to form they did not fail him when it came to calling the incredible 1998 Belgian Grand Prix.

It was an enthralling event that featured a 13-car pile-up, spectacular crashes, a furious pit-lane bust-up, horrendous weather from start to finish and a maiden win for one of the sport's underdogs.

Click here to read about one of the craziest Formula 1 races ever.

Image source, F1

Julian Alcantara: Is what we are seeing over free practice that it's Ferrari, not Mercedes, who are most affected by not being able to change engine modes? Qualifying will reveal all.

Dr Steve McCabe: Are Ferrari's problems short-term? It's a company with huge resources. However, as once-great team Williams shows, when you're on the slippery slope of decline, it's hard to recover.

The engine mode change ban is not in place yet - it starts at the next race.

After six out of a maximum 17 races in 2020 Mercedes' lead at the top of the constructors' championship is a mammoth 86 points.

Williams, as they were last season, remain last but at least they're far more competitive than in 2019.

Six races of the season gone with four wins for Lewis Hamilton and one apiece for Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen.

That leaves Hamilton with a 37-point lead at the top.

Considering how bad the Ferrari has been this weekend, for Charles Leclerc to muster two podium finishes may well be the best performances of the season.

John Crowson: What's to stop Ferrari switching to their 2019 car, regulations wise. Obviously a large portion of their relative drop in pace is the engine being clipped but the chassis looks worse than last years, so why not switch back to a modified 19 car?

Abhishek: My younger one is crying on seeing Ferrari in bottom 5. He supports them while I am a Mercedes fan.

Matthew Murnaghan: What on earth is going on with Ferrari? They used to be so good, now they're midfield / backmarker tier.