This session is live. You are not logged in, so new updates will not appear automatically. For automatic updates, log in here or register a free RaceFans account here.
Here’s the grid for tomorrow’s race in Jeddah.
Verstappen has also lost time in the middle of the lap but he takes pole position! 1’27.294, just one hundredth of a second in it.
Piastri goes fastest by a tenth of a second but what does Verstappen have?
Piastri fastest in sector one, loses time in sector two – but further back Verstappen is faster still.
Russell goes fastest through the first sector and takes the best time off Verstappen with a 1’27.407.
Verstappen beats Piastri by a thousandth of a second! That’s provisional pole position for the Red Bull driver and exactly what he needed from that banker lap so he can attack his final run.
The session has resumed, Verstappen immediately heads out to get a time in as only Piastri has so far.
Norris says he’s unhurt but this is a huge blow for him as he’ll now start no higher than 10th.
Piastri had gone quickest with a 1’27.560.
Norris has crashed! Red flag.
Piastri leads the drivers out as Q3 begins. Norris is further back between the Ferrari drivers and the Red Bulls are at the rear of the queue.
Q2 is over and the following drivers are eliminated: Alexander Albon, Liam Lawson, Fernando Alonso, Isack Hadjar and Oliver Bearman.
Tsunoda needs to improve on his final lap and he does with seventh place, that eliminates Albon by seven thousandths of a second behind Hamilton.
Hamilton takes eighth with his final lap, then Gasly takes it off him.
Lawson hadn’t set a time and grabs 10th which puts Hamilton into the drop zone.
Sainz is slower in the first sector but manages sixth overall. Hamilton is now on the cusp of the drop zone.
Antonelli was only 10th before his final run. He delivers a committed lap and goes fifth.
Verstappen reports he hit a kerb hard in turns four and five, Red Bull are checking his plank.
Norris was also aided by a slipstream from his team mate.
Currently in the drop zone: Alexander Albon, Oliver Bearman, Isack Hadjar, Fernando Alonso and Liam Lawson.
Norris takes the top time back for McLaren with a 1’27.481, just four hundredths of a second faster than Verstappen.
Leclerc takes fourth and Hamilton produces a better lap for fifth, just under two tenths of a second behind.
Verstappen once again is right up there, a 1’27.529 puts him ahead by a tenth of a second.
Sainz made good use of that tow, he goes fastest with a 1’28.309. But Piastri beats that easily with a 1’27.690.
Albon is first to set a time, then it looked like he gave his team mate a tow to begin his lap.
Q2 has begun.
Q1 is over and the following drivers are eliminated: Lance Stroll, Jack Doohan, Nico Hulkenberg, Esteban Ocon and Gabriel Bortoleto.
Hamilton has fallen to 15th so he surely needs this lap on his new softs to get safe. He goes ninth.
Lawson gets safe in 11th. Gasly gets close to the wall as he goes ninth and eliminates his team mate.
Currently in the drop zone: Oliver Bearman, Liam Lawson, Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon and Gabriel Bortoleto.
Doohan fails to improve in the middle sector and goes 13th with what may prove to be his final run. Alonso takes a slipstream off him – he practised that earlier today.
Gasly, 18th, had trouble getting out of his garage as a tyre blanket became wrapped around his front-right tyres.
Hamilton wants a fresh set of soft tyres for his final run: “I’m not sure I’m going to improve on these tyres.”
Hamilton improves to tenth place, within a tenth of a second of Leclerc.
Norris retakes the fastest time from Piastri by two tenths of a second. Gasly now in the drop zone too. Hadjar clipped the wall at the final corner.
Sainz and Alonso improve which puts Hamilton into the drop zone.
Currently in the drop zone: Lance Stroll, Oliver Bearman, Carlos Sainz Jnr, Esteban Ocon and Gabriel Bortoleto.
A black bag appears to have blown onto the circuit approaching turn one. Only the Racing Bulls drivers have not set flying laps yet.
It’s super-close between the McLaren drivers again: Piastri takes the top time off Norris by seven thousandths of a second. Russell splits the Red Bull for fourth.
Verstappen takes second, a tenth of a second off Norris. Yuki Tsunoda goes quickest of all in the middle sector and moves up to third, two tenths of a second off his team mate.
A promising lap for Fernando Alonso leaves him just a few hundredths off Hamilton.
Charles Leclerc goes half a second off that and Hamilton is three tenths behind his team mate.
Norris produces a 1’28.026 to go top by eight tenths of a second from Alexander Albon.
Oliver Bearman is immediately seven tenths of a second faster than his team mate after their first lap. Nico Hulkenberg and Jack Doohan beat them both.
Both cars from Haas, Sauber, Williams and Aston Martin head out first, plus Jack Doohan’s Alpine.
Q1 has begun at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. Red Bull are looking for their fourth consecutive pole position at this track. Only Mercedes, in the inaugural 2021 event, have beaten them to pole.
Air temperature 29C, track temperature 38C as qualifying begins.
It’s another significant moment for Lando Norris, who hasn’t been as comfortable in McLaren’s car as he was last year, and faces loses the championship lead if his team mate beats him to pole position again. Oscar Piastri, of course, has two poles already, Norris and Verstappen one each.
Once again this year we head into a qualifying session with a sense that it’s McLaren’s pole position to lose. But although they were a long way ahead in practice earlier today, yesterday’s second practice session will surely prove much more representative of their rivals’ potential. Verstappen and Leclerc are not to be discounted, and potentially Russell too.
Stroll was further off his team mate than any driver in final practice, lapping 0.59s off Fernando Alonso. Andrea Kimi Antonelli was almost as far off George Russell while Lewis Hamilton was 0.408s off Charles Leclerc.
Although conditions in final practice were much hotter than in second practice, all drivers apart from Nico Hulkenberg improved their lap times. The slowest five, who therefore look most at risk of elimination in Q1, were the Sauber drivers, the Haas drivers and Lance Stroll in the Aston Martin.
Qualifying for the 2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is coming up next.