The quickest five has a new member taking their place alongside the Verstappen-Sainz-Perez-Leclerc quartet.

It's George Russell, who bagged himself a podium finish in Baku to continue his streak of finishing in the top five of every race this season. The Mercedes banks with a 1:15.822, which is six tenths off the pace of leader Max Verstappen.

Jack Nicholls
BBC Radio 5 Live F1 commentator

"Tsunoda says he kissed the wall... he kissed it for quite a long time!"

Yuki Tsunoda tells his Alpha Tauri team that he has kissed the wall but luckily for the Japanese racer, his car has come out unscathed from the smooch.

A new driver is at the top of the timing sheets, but it's a name you already know.

Max Verstappen clocks a 1:15.158 on softs tyres to go two tenths quicker than the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz.

In Baku, Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen were told "no fighting" as the pair battled it out for the race lead.

With the two close together in the drivers' championship, are they allowed to duke it out on track? "As long as they're respectable with each other," says Red Bull boss Christian Horner to Sky Sports. "You don't want to see one put the other in the wall."

This is how we look with 25 minutes to go.

While Max Verstappen struggles, Carlos Sainz jumps to the top of the board with a 1:15.441 on those soft tyres.

Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc has managed to push Verstappen down a place as the Monegasque driver slots into third thanks to a 1:15.666, also on the softs.

Max Verstappen, who is second behind his team-mate Sergio Perez on the timing sheets, reports he has issues with his Red Bull. "Box, box" is the instruction given to the championship leader.

We've done some extensive digging here at BBC Sport HQ and the last race we can find James Allison at is the Russian Grand Prix in 2020.

This is not confirmation that Russia was his last grand prix in the Mercedes garage, however, it was just the first thing that popped up when we put his name into the photo agency website!

Not a happy session for Lewis Hamilton so far.

The seven-time world champion is down in eighth spot with a 1:16.751 on the medium rubber, but he informs his Mercedes pit wall, "I've got no rear end, man."

It's a homecoming for our other Canadian driver, Nicholas Latifi.

Latifi hasn't had a chance to bask in the home fans' cheers yet as the Williams man only made his Formula 1 debut in 2020 when Canada was temporarily off the calendar due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

He's had all his favourite chocolate/hazelnut-based treats delivered to him, so he's fulled for the weekend.

He's currently down in 18th place with a 1:18.543.

Back on home soil for Lance Stroll and after his retirement in Baku, the Aston Martin driver is putting in the laps during this first practice session and he goes fifth, pushing Charles Leclerc down into sixth, with a 1:16.446 on the soft tyres.

#JamesAllisonwatch

Let us know if you can remember the last time we saw James. I want say it was still when Valtteri Bottas was still around but really, that's just a wild guess.

There's an important person in the Mercedes garage today.

No it's not former First Lady Michelle Obama again...

Red Bulls and Ferraris were running comfortably in the top four but Fernando Alonso knows his way around this circuit like the back of his hand and lifts his Alpine up to third with a 1:16.312 on the soft compound.

The Alpine makes it back to the pits but it looks a bad one for Esteban Ocon. The Frenchman asks was it a plastic bag that caused the issue with the brakes? "No, looks like some paper towel," says his engineer.