Formula 1 LIVE today: 1st practice in Baku is back on - All news in the live ticker

The world champion brakes too late in Turn 15 and has to enter the run-off area. After a U-turn, he continues.

Five minutes left in FP1. Hamilton is back on the road. At the front, Leclerc has started chasing Norris. However, the four-time Baku pole-sitter is still five-tenths of a second behind the fastest time.

Lewis Hamilton escapes with a few black eyes. After contact with the wall at the apex of Turn 5, he suffers only a broken front wing and a puncture. He returns his Ferrari to the pits.

With a 1:42.704 minutes, Lando Norris, on a new set of soft tires, shaved another second off the fastest time. Oscar Piastri is currently third, over a second behind his teammate.

All drivers are on track – including Oscar Piastri. The McLaren crew has been getting the car back in shape during the break. He is currently in 11th place. All cars are running on the soft tire.

The timing screen finally shows the correct color again. The track is clear.

The race director reports that it will take at least five minutes before the race can continue.

The clock is inevitably ticking. Carlos Sainz's Williams doesn't appear to have been damaged by the grind over the kerb. Instead, one of the kerb's fixings appears to have come loose.

The red flag comes at a convenient time for the championship leader. McLaren reports a power unit issue to Piastri's McLaren. FP1 could already be over for the Australian, but the competition is just as unproductive due to the current situation on the track.

The track is still not open. A marshal fiddled with the kerb, but the problem doesn't seem to have been completely resolved. The cause, incidentally, was Carlos Sainz, who drove over the kerb, touched down with his underbody, and damaged the kerb in the process.

And we have the first interruption. There's wreckage on the exit curb at Turn 16.

The best time changes every minute. Lando Norris is currently in first place with a time of 1:43.747 minutes. This is already well below the best time from last year's first practice session, which was set by Max Verstappen at 1:45.546 minutes.

Lando Norris was ordered back into the pits on his out lap. After a few tweaks to the front wing by the mechanics, he was able to exit. But now Oscar Piastri also seems to be having trouble. His engineer orders over the radio: "Recharge off, easy. No full load and keep the revs low."

Seven drivers have already set lap times. Max Verstappen leads the field with a 1:46.121. Bortoleto was forced to use the emergency exit in turn three after a braking error. The Brazilian is free to continue.

The first practice session has started. Franco Colapinto is the first driver on the 6.003-kilometer Baku City Circuit. Nico Hülkenberg has also left the garage behind the Argentinian.

In three minutes, the pit lane lights will turn green. You can follow the action live with commentary and timing in our session ticker.

Another very important feature: Pirelli 's menu for this weekend. You can choose from the compounds C4 (Hard), C5 (Medium), and C6 (Soft). Last year, the Italians used compounds C3, C4, and C5. Accordingly, we're now running a level softer.

The first one-hour practice session of this Friday starts in ten minutes. The weather in Baku is stable just before 12:30 local time. Currently, the sun is shining, with an air temperature of 26 degrees Celsius. The asphalt is at 33 degrees Celsius. Humidity is as high as usual at 69 percent.

After several problematic qualifying sessions, Williams is once again faced with the seemingly insurmountable task of tire preparation in today's practice sessions. Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz have been complaining for some time about only being lucky enough to get the soft tires into the working window for the fast lap in qualifying. Here's how the team intends to address the problem:

The outcry in Monza was huge. The McLaren team management and their drivers had a week and a half to let the reactions to the dubious team order at the Italian GP sink in. Will they play the Papaya Rules in this way again? Find out the answer and all the other news in our Thursday VLOG.

The 17th race weekend of the 2025 Formula 1 season is upon us! To conclude the European season, the premier class will be visiting the spectacular street circuit in the capital of Azerbaijan. Geographically, this puts us in Eurasia, but we'll turn a blind eye to that. The first session at the Baku City Circuit will take place in just half an hour. As always, you can find all the news, information, and results directly from the paddock in our live ticker! Here's the schedule for this Friday: