Kevin Magnussen is living the dream again. He's said he hadn't realised how much he missed F1 until he got the call from Haas offering him a return to the sport after a year away.

Haas, who dropped the ineffective Russian Nikita Mazepin after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, now have a much stronger pairing with Magnussen and Mick Schumacher both currently in the top 10.

Max Verstappen with an early benchmark of 1:31.909. Next comes Sergio Perez four tenths behind.

The McLarens of Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo are 1.2 and 1.6 seconds behind and they will very much need to improve.

Sam Bird
Formula E driver on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra

"George Russell is clearly a very special talent that only comes around once in a while.

"Is Alex Albon made of the same stuff? Can he push that team forward to get to the next level? Let's see how the season goes."

Andrew Priestley: Qualifying is about to reveal the true picture of where each team is after the building of this new generation of F1 car. However, it’ll only tell half the story, as with new cars there is sure to be reliability issues in tomorrow’s race. Who has both?

Alpha Tauri's Yuki Tsunoda missed all the third practice session because of a hydraulics issue, but he's on track early on in qualifying.

Here we go. Same format as last year, so Q1 is over 18 minutes, everyone gets on the track, the fastest 15 advance, the slowest five are out.

Joanna Harran: Happy first quali of the season everyone. So hoping Alpine have a good start. Car looks fast but plenty of gremlins so unsure the outcome. Ach well, back to being nervous, keeps things spicy

Laura Scott
BBC Sport senior news reporter

Haas team boss Guenther Steiner said he does not regret the team having previously had strong links with Russia.

And he said that the "right decisions" were taken following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Earlier in March, the Formula 1 team parted ways with Russian driver Nikita Mazepin and Russian title sponsor Uralkali, a chemicals company.

Steiner said there was no option but to drop Mazepin.

The driver's billionaire father, Dmitry Mazepin, has close ties to Vladimir Putin and Steiner said the decision was taken to avoid putting the team at risk.

"We couldn't make any other decision when we got to it, there was no possibility to keep him driving. The criticism, the sanction, altogether, it didn't work out any more," he told BBC Sport.

Kevin Magnussen, after a season out of Formula 1, is back in the Haas and has looked in good form.

Can he get himself into Q3 and the top 10? What a return that would be.

BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra

We're back on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra so press the play button at the top right now to listen to our team of Jack Nicholls, Formula E driver Sam Bird, Jennie Gow and Andrew Benson.

No-one in Formula 1 history has more pole positions than Lewis Hamilton's 103.

Considering how the Mercedes has been struggling this weekend, how high can he get himself up the grid for tomorrow?

Newsbeat's Christian Hewgill talks to world champion Max Verstappen ahead of the start of the new season.

These are the numbers to look for this season. Max Verstappen, as he can do as he's the world champion, has the number one on his Red Bull this year.

McLaren driver Lando Norris talks to BBC sports news correspondent Natalie Pirks before the 2022 Formula 1 season, which starts at the Bahrain Grand Prix this weekend.

Jennifer Harris: Masi has not been sacked as many people seem to believe, he's just been moved to a different job out of the limelight. However it's good to see the new guy laying down the law about track limits right from the outset. Same rules, every corner, every track. About time.

Sam Jones: Think Max will get pole but tomorrow will be first chance for us to see how every team does in a proper race and see how good Ferrari can be along with others.

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

Image source, Getty Images

Lewis Hamilton has donated €50,000 (£41,900) to Formula 1's governing body to support the education of a student from a disadvantaged background.

The Mercedes driver said the idea arose from a discussion with FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem that covered his decision to miss last year's FIA gala.

It is a requirement for the top three in the championship to attend the gala.

Hamilton skipped the event after the controversial finish to the last race in 2021 at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

His donation is effectively in lieu of a fine for missing the event.

Hamilton said at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix on Friday: "There will be some sort of fine for missing regarding the gala but we have worked together to make sure the money will be put towards youth from underprivileged backgrounds getting into motorsports engineering."

Hamilton, who lost out on an eighth world title after the FIA race director failed to follow the rules correctly in Abu Dhabi, has launched a foundation to support students from minority backgrounds into science, technology, engineering and maths courses as part of his drive to increase diversity in motorsport.

And last year he created a commission to look into the reasons for the lack of representation of minority ethnic students in such areas.

The new F1 season is under way - but can it match the drama and controversy of 2021?

Have a listen to this package from Radio 1's Newsbeat as they reflect on one of the best seasons in years and Formula 1's resurgence in popularity.