Jolyon Palmer
Former Renault driver on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra

Drivers are struggling so much to hook it up around the whole lap. That's what's going to make qualifying that bit more exciting here.

It's not just necessarily a show of pace, the Red Bull versus Mercedes, can anybody else get in the mix? It's about driver skill and hooking up all 14-15 corners, without making a single mistake.

It's not just costing a few hundredths of a second out there, it's costing tenths.

Max Verstappen jumps to the top with a 1:18.545 and that's 0.19 seconds faster than Lewis Hamilton.

We've got seven teams in the top 10 at the moment - Mercedes (first, Hamilton and fifth Bottas), Red Bull (second, Perez and fourth Verstappen), Ferrari (third, Leclerc and seventh Sainz) as well as Alpha Tauri (Gasly, sixth), Alpine (Ocon, eighth), McLaren (Ricciardo, ninth) and Alfa Romeo (Raikkonen, 10th).

This is set up nicely for a thrilling qualifying session later on. That gets going at 15:00 BST. Twenty-two minutes left of this practice session.

Max Verstappen has gone for a slide and, just as we want it to be, this track, much loved last year, is testing everyone.

Kimi Raikkonen throws in a 360 spin as he was giving it full beans. He's OK and can carry on as if nothing happened.

Yesterday's best effort was a 1:19.648 from Valtteri Bottas in the first session, but that time has been destroyed today. Sergio Perez with a 1:18.840 leading the way. How we could do with both Red Bulls taking the fight to Mercedes?

Speaking of Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton then ends Perez's spell at the top with a 1:18.755 on the softs.

Just 0.085 between the current top two. Charles Leclerc third, Max Verstappen fourth, Valtteri Bottas fifth.

Ben, Audlem: For me one of Lewis' stand out poles is last year at Styria. For him to be 1.2 seconds clear of second place goes to show why he is one of the GOATS of F1.

Image source, Getty Images

Jolyon Palmer
Former Renault driver on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra

Sergio Perez is definitely doing something a little bit different. A short early run - shorter than most. A couple of flying laps on the softs, then into the pits to maybe try and change things, maybe a balance change - or maybe just a front wing adjust - to rebalance the car.

The soft tyres seem to be hanging on, so it's not an absolute write-off to do a couple of laps, then doing a couple more, because the cooler temperatures are allowing the soft tyres to hang on for more than one lap.

Verstappen was on a flier, with a purple first sector but a virtual safety car halts his progress.

No one has been involved in an accident, it's some sponsorship boards that have fallen over and need to be fixed.

We've got a good mix of softs and hards being used. Esteban Ocon leads with a 1:19.672 on the mediums, then come three drivers on the softs - Charles Leclerc in second, Daniel Ricciardo in third and Kimi Raikkonen in fourth.

Then comes Fernando Alonso and Yuki Tsunoda, both on the mediums.

Jolyon Palmer
Former Renault driver on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra

Yuki Tsunoda is comfortably quicker than he was yesterday. Nearly a second faster than what he did in second practice.

Alpha Tauri were struggling a little bit yesterday, so they need to hope they have found something overnight.

This is one for the old school fans. First Kimi Raikkonen, second Fernando Alonso.

Ben: Trying to think outside the box slightly - Silverstone 2013, so much faster than the rest of the grid it caused Martin Brundle to question whether Lewis had found a shortcut somewhere round the circuit.

Jack, Dorset: Singapore 2018 is the obvious stand out pole, but Styria in the wet last year was exceptional and Australia 2018 also ranks very high.

Image source, Getty Images

Times now from nine cars and it's the Al-peen of Fernando Alonso leading the way. He was fifth fastest yesterday so can he turn back the clock and impress in qualifying later on?

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

Behind the big two, the timesheets do not lie in showing Ferrari at the head of the next group, but they perhaps do in suggesting Alpine rather than McLaren will be with them, for the long runs suggested it was the McLaren ahead, and the Alpines a little further back, although still perhaps having made a step forward over their performance in Bahrain and Imola. Alpha Tauri - so quick so far this season - are struggling.

And Aston Martin appear to be in a holding pattern - Lance Stroll perhaps able to make it into the bottom reaches of the top 10, Sebastian Vettel still unhappy and uncomfortable with the car’s rear instability.

Adrian: Why keep saying Alpeen? It's Alpine. No one climbs a peen tree. Discuss.

Sorry Adrian. Amazingly, it is actually pronounced "AL-PEEN".

Still just the Haas pair on the board and Mazepin has improved, but still six tenths worse off than Schumacher and on the supposedly quicker soft tyres.

Jolyon Palmer
Former Renault driver on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra

I am starting to get interested in this Q1 fight, now that Williams have shown a bit of pace.

George Russell finished second practice in 13th position, ahead of Yuki Tsunoda and Sebastian Vettel. Remember how quick Nicholas Latifi was in qualifying at Imola last time out? He was in Q2 as well.

If they can start to be midfield threats in qualifying.... the whole midfield pack is closing - including those at the back.

Mick Schumacher is on the mediums, with Nikita Mazepin on the softs. Schumacher is two seconds faster and then, looking for more, spins it, but does no damage.

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

Image source, Getty Images

McLaren Racing chief executive officer Zak Brown has caused a bit of a stir this week by publishing a manifesto looking at what changes he believes would benefit F1 in the coming years., external In brief, his main proposals are for: secret ballots on rules issues to prevent the big teams effectively coercing their partners/customers into voting in a particular direction; limiting the calendar to about 20 races each year from a larger pool, with 15 permanent fixtures and the other five rotating year to year; mandating greater opportunities for young drivers; plus improving sustainability and diversity.

The question is, why now? Brown said in a news conference this morning: “I believe that’s what’s best of the sport is what’s best for McLaren. All I’m trying to do is get the sport where the best team may win. So everyone has the same size bat or whatever sporting analogy you want to use. That’s in the best interests of F1 but also of McLaren.

“The reason now is that in my four years of being here, some of these meetings become very frustrating because they become very political. There is definitely a kick-the-can-down-the-road strategy by some teams and some things that should be solved in one meeting. You’d be amazed that issues can be around for three, four, six months, a year, I wanted to put out the areas that are opportunities for F1. F1 is in a great shape, so this is room for growth.”