F1 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix LIVE: Race schedule and start time as Charles Leclerc starts on pole in Baku

“Bit disappointed with qualifying, it was a decent result. Looking forward to the race, the long runs went well.

“It’s great to do a full weekend, only focusing on F1. My life has been a bit easier, bit less stressful. “

“The car was good. People did their second laps and I didn’t. I had to lift.

“It is what it is, long race ahead. We have some good tyres in the bank, just try and be hopeful. Still hopeful we can get a good result. Bit frustrating.”

1. Max Verstappen – 303 points

2. Lando Norris – 241 points

3. Charles Leclerc – 217 points

4. Oscar Piastri – 197 points

5. Carlos Sainz – 184 points

6. Lewis Hamilton – 164 points

7. Sergio Perez – 143 points

8. George Russell – 128 points

9. Fernando Alonso – 50 points

10. Lance Stroll – 24 points

11. Nico Hulkenberg – 22 points

12. Yuki Tsunoda – 22 points

13. Daniel Ricciardo – 12 points

14. Pierre Gasly – 8 points

15. Oliver Bearman – 6 points

16. Kevin Magnussen – 6 points

17. Alex Albon – 6 points

18. Esteban Ocon – 5 points

19. Zhou Guanyu – 0 points

20. Logan Sargeant – 0 points

21. Franco Colapinto – 0 points

22. Valtteri Bottas – 0 points

The Mercedes driver starts in the pit lane after changing his power unit and exceeding his engine allocation.

“It’s OK – interesting afternoon, not going to be easy, but will do my best,” he says.

“We’ve been able to make some changes to the car, I’m hoping it’s in a better place today.”

Esteban Ocon will also start in the pit lane…

Good morning and welcome to live text coverage of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku!

Charles Leclerc starts on pole for the fourth time running at what is one of his favourite tracks, with Oscar Piastri alongside him and Carlos Sainz in third.

As for the championship leaders? Max Verstappen is P6 while Lando Norris is P16!

Lando Norris does not expect a “magical” Azerbaijan Grand Prix result after the McLaren driver qualified 17th in a major blow to his title hopes.

The 24-year-old was caught out by yellow flags down the long final straight, backing off and being unable to improve his time, meaning he was knocked out of Q1.

Norris arrived in the Land of Fire bidding to turn up the heat on championship leader Max Verstappen, having taken 16 points out of the three-time world champion’s title lead across the last two races.

“Same Saturday as always. Same thing as every Saturday. Yesterday the car was amazing, felt great. Could have been second row today. But today, the tyres didn’t work all day.”

“We made some changes into qualifying which made it harder to drive. We tried to find solutions throughout qualifying but in turn 16, the car became very loose in the corner.

“Ferrari are always quick around here, the last three years they took pole. Ferrari and Charles are very strong. From our side, today we didn’t optimise it. Unfortunately it went the other way.”

The British driver arrived in the Land of Fire bidding to turn up the heat on championship leader Max Verstappen, having taken 16 points out of the three-time world champion’s title lead across the last two races.

But the 24-year-old said he was caught out by yellow flags down the long final straight, backing off and unable to improve his time, meaning he will start Sunday’s race from 17th on the grid.

*Zhou drops to the back of the grid after power unit changes between practice sessions