PIT: And breathe! Lovely job! Well done and well deserved. ALEX: Yeah! Yeah! Really happy! ALEX: We worked for that one! Works nice when it goes to plan. PIT: P9 or bust and we ended up P7! Not bad!

The driver that just scored his best finish of 2024 📸

JAMES: Alex, absolutely incredible. Well done. JAMES: P7 and well earned on a point. It was a brilliant race executed from start to finish. JAMES: We'll have more performance, we'll keep moving forward, but amazing. Really, really happy. ALEX: Yeah, well done, everyone! ALEX: When I saw how few people went hard, I was a bit worried but we made it work! JAMES: Yeah, we have some more work to do but we're going the right way.

What! A! Race! That is P7 for Alex after a stellar race using the alternative strategy!

It's the last lap... and Alex is going to finish in P7!

The race will end under a Virtual Safety Car. Leclerc and Perez have crashed. Alex is up into P7!

Alonso is putting his foot down as he sets his fastest lap. Alex is 1.5s away with three laps to go...

1.2s to Alonso now! Five laps left for Alex to attack for P8!

Alex goes much faster on that last lap. He goes half a second quicker. The gap is now 1.3s. Come on Alex!

Alex is 2.2s away from Alonso and setting similar lap times. They're personal bests for both drivers, with Albono a little faster than the Spaniard.

Looks like Alonso stopped his management. Now he's picked up the pace. There's 11 laps to go.

Alex speeds past into Turn 1! He's up to P9 and chasing down Alonso. The Aston Martin is 2.7s in front with 14 laps left.

Hulkenberg and Alex overtake Colapinto. It's P10 and the points for Albono right now, with Hulkenberg 0.6 in front...

PIT: Overtake available, but it will be low. Mode 6. ALEX: What's going on? Just get me up. I can't overtake like this. PIT: Alright, accept mode 7 when you can. ALEX: We should've just stayed out!

Alex is within DRS range of Hulkeberg. Can he get by this lap?

Alex returns to the track and has to go wheel-to-wheel with Hulkenberg. The Haas driver overtakes into Turn 3... Alex is P11, but has the freshest tyres on the grid.

Alex says the tyres are coming back, but pits anyway. He has 20 laps to attack on the medium tyres.

PIT: Loss is on the rear right. ALEX: If I push more I'm going to crash, guys. I'm literally oversteering everywhere. PIT: Alright. We're good for plan A.

Alex is still P5, and Norris is still behind, with Verstappen, and now Russell joining the train. The tyres are definitely past their best. How long can he keep this up?

We go past half distance. Alex stays in P5. Norris is within DRS, but he's using it to defend from Verstappen rather than attack Albono.

Doing a great job currently. Still looking at plan A, potentially plan A plus 5.

Sainz overtakes into P4 at Turn 1. Behind Albono is a fight between Norris and Verstappen. The championship challengers are fighting hard, slowing them down from Alex's rear wing.

Sainz, who has pitted, passes Norris. He's now the car behind Alex in P5. Albono's 2025 teammate will be within DRS range on this lap on the long pit straight.

Happy to reduce some of the tyre management to get the temperatures back up.

Perez uses his new Pirelli tyres to overtake into Turn 1. Norris is now 1.5s away. Alex is P4 with the lap counter about to hit 20.

Piastri gets by down the pit straight, but Alex keeps Perez behind into Turn 3. It's elbows out for Albono, who is in a fighting mood!

Alex is in the middle of the battle for the lead on this alternative strategy. Norris is far behind after Perez overtook on fresh tyres. Piastri and Perez are chasing Albono, who is P3.

PIT: Norris will be under threat for Perez shortly. Give me feedback on tyres when you can. ALEX: They're coming back to me.

The pit stops have Alex up to P4. He's setting solid lap times and is matching Norris's pace.

OK, let's start to pick up the pace if we can. Gap behind at 2.2.

Alonso also pits. Alex goes into P7. The alternate strategy might come good, especially if a Safety Car or VSC appears later in this race.

Colapinto pits and Alex goes up to P8. Alonso is now the car ahead, 2.4s in front.

Hulkenberg gets by Bearman, too, as Haas enact team orders. Norris is 3.1s behind, while Colapinto is now within DRS range of Alex. Still P9...

Norris's pace is not as strong as expected. Still four seconds back.

Norris passes Bearman into Turn 1 and is 4s adrift of Alex's car. The McLaren driver is also running the hard tyres.

Alex looks to have the speed on Bearman behind. The gap is now over two seconds. However, Norris is out of position after his problems in qualifying and will close in on the Haas in the next few laps.

Okay, so your hard tyres should now start to outperform the mediums.

Alex is keeping position well. Colapinto is in P8 ahead, with Bearman in P10 behind. There is about a second gap between each driver.

DRS enabled. Bearman is one second back.

Alex maintains P9 on those hard tyres! He has to fight off Ollie Bearman into Turn 3, but he manages it without issue to keep his place.

Alex makes his way around the track to prepare for the race start.

Alex is one of only a few starting on the white-walled Hard tyre. Everyone aside from Albono up to P14 is on mediums. Ricciardo, Norris, Zhou, Gasly, and Ocon join him on Pirelli's most durable rubber.

Alex is sitting in the car trying to keep his cool in the 27°C heat. We're nearly ready to go racing.

The Azerbaijani national anthem is sung and played around the Baku streets.

Alex in an interview 📸

Are you all set for Alex to take on Azerbaijan? Some news since yesterday is that Lewis Hamilton will start from the pit lane. That means Alex will line up P9 after his P10 qualification yesterday.

Azerbaijan. Race day. Let's go 📸

ALEX: We're going to fight tomorrow, everyone, today. Don't stress. We can get points tomorrow. JAMES: We win together, we lose together. Simple as that. But we have points on the table tomorrow.

Street fighting 📸

Alex, you drove spectacularly through qualifying. Well done for that. I'm sorry for that incident. We're going to make sure that doesn't happen again. We need to understand in that rush why we could even do that. But from your perspective, you can be proud of what you achieved. Well done.

Alex qualifies P10 after that first run became his only Q3 attempt. He and Franco Colapinto will share the fifth row for tomorrow's race.

That issue has left Alex without time to set another lap.

Alex, just push it off the car. Don't let the marshal touch the car. Just push it off the car. Right, now carry on.

Alex has the air intake cooling system still in the car.

Alex gets a 1:42 for his opening Q3 attempt. He sets a 1:42.859 and is in P8!

The #23 Williams is gunning for his first Q3 lap on used soft tyres.

Q3 is green. It's the top-10 shootout for Alex.

Alex slips into Q3! He finishes the session in P10!

That's a 1:42.840 for Alex! He's sitting P8 with others going quicker...

Okay, go push.

A fresh set of rubber for Albono. Can he make Q3?

Alex is P7 during the lull between runs. The Ferraris are out in the gap. Looks like it'll be another tight session.

Alex drops in a 1:43.233 on Pirelli tyres he's already used. That's a solid lap and he's P5 in the opening moments.

The next session begins. How will Alex fare? He's out there with soft tyres...

P2 for Alex means Q2! The track really got quicker in the final minutes. This is a qualifying session you don't want to miss.

Yes, Alex! That'll get him into Q2!

And purple in sector 2! Alex is P14 and needs this lap...

Track evolution means Alex in P10 isn't set for Q2. He goes back out in the final minutes for another run...

That's another improvement for Alex - it's a 1:43.956. He's P8 and looking fast!

1:44.207 is Albono's opening lap. He's in the upper positions, but many others need to set their time.

Let's go push.

Q1 begins.

So the two Mercedes are on medium tyres for info.

Q1 hasn't begun and Alex is already in the pit lane alongside most other drivers. It's going to be a busy start.

The first qualifying session of the weekend will begin in 15 minutes. Stay here to see how Alex does and read the radio messages right from his cockpit.

Getting ready to qualify

Alex's FP3 photo 📸

That's the session over, as Alex circles the circuit on used soft tyres ready to practise his grid starts. An encouraging session ends with Albono in P8.

We've got a good car! A really good car! That's good.

Alex puts in a 1:43.194! That's an improvement, and he's P5 and sounding happy.

We're into the final moments of Free Practice and Alex has a fresh set of Pirelli soft tyres to try another lap.

That's car 23 back in the garage after these fast laps on the soft tyres. Alex is P5 as others find speed, too.

Purple in sector 2 and briefly in P1 again! Alex is finding his Baku groove and sets a 1:43.623 with a little help from a George Russell slipstream down the pit straight.

Okay, straight out. Same again.

The session is green again. Alex is waiting to go out...

Alex will enjoy more time in P1 as Ollie Bearman hits the wall at Turn 1 to trigger a red flag.

Eight-tenths ahead of Franco and one second ahead of Verstappen currently.

Alex hits P1 with a 1.44.371 and sets two purple sectors!

PIT: Straight out. Radio check? ALEX: Yes, copy. PIT: All good.

FP3 is back underway with 36 minutes remaining.

Alex hasn't gone out today yet, and he'll wait a little longer. Esteban Ocon has stopped on the main straight to trigger a red flag.

Alex isn't in the car, but there is activity on the Baku track as FP3 begins. There's a light drizzle in the air, but everyone is using slicks.

Are you sitting comfortably? FP3 is just five minutes away!

Look out for more millimetre precision from Alex today

The first competitive session of Alex's Baku trip is coming up today! We'll keep you updated on everything Albon here, but there's the not-so-small matter of FP3 first...

Free Practice 2 comes to a close, with Albono recording a best lap time of 1:44.737 and finishing in P13. See you tomorrow for FP3 and Quali!

Into the final five minutes of FP2 ⌚️

"We're looking at five laps before we pit..."

It's time for some long runs, as Alex sets about gathering data ahead of Sunday's race.

Albono has changed to a set of medium tyres for the latter stages of FP2.

Alex takes to the track with just over 20 minutes left on the clock in Azerbaijan.

AA23 returns to the garage once more.

"I'm happy to box..."

It's another best time for Alex — 1:44.737 — moving him into P6.

Albono gets back to action in Baku. He's switched to a set of soft tyres for this stint.

"Box this lap..." Alex heads into the garage.

AA23 records his best lap time of the second session – 1:45.124. He’s in P5 as things stand.

"Let's go push..."

Albono’s first lap of the afternoon comes in at 1:46.421. He's currently in P8.

Alex’s FW46 rolls out onto the track. He’s starting FP2 on a set of medium tyres.

Today’s second session at the Baku City Circuit has started!

Free Practice 2 gets under way in just five minutes.

Warming up... 🏃

Not long to go until FP2 ⏳

A somewhat disrupted FP1 concludes with Alex in P17, having recorded a best lap time of 1:47.955. We’ll be back later today for Free Practice 2!

Alex is back out — still on soft tyres — for the final ten minutes of Free Practice 1.

It's a third red flag of FP1, with Alex's Williams teammate Franco Colapinto going into the wall at Turn 4.

"Go push..."

Alex beats his previous best lap with a time of 1:47.955.

We've got a green light, so Albono ventures out for another stint at the Baku City Circuit. This time he's on soft tyres.

Charles Leclerc goes into the wall at Turn 15, resulting in another red flag — and another visit to the garage for AA23.

It’s a best lap time of 1:48.931 for Albono. He’s currently in P13.

Alex's first push of the day results in a lap time of 1:50.348.

We're back under way and Alex quickly takes to the track.

We've got a red flag, so Alex is going to box once again.

Albono returns to the track…

After an installation lap, Alex is back in the garage.

AA23 is starting the session on a set of medium tyres.

Alex heads straight out onto the Baku City Circuit…

We’re under way on the banks of the Caspian Sea!

There’s just five minutes remaining until Free Practice 1 gets started in Azerbaijan.

Ready for action 💪

Hello and welcome to our Azerbaijan Grand Prix live blog! We’ll be bringing you coverage of Alex’s progress in Baku across the weekend. Stay tuned for all the action, starting with FP1 shortly…