Azerbaijan F1 Sprint live updates, results, highlights from Baku ...

Charles Leclerc again showed his love for the Baku City Circuit by winning Saturday's F1 Sprint Shootout.

The Ferrari driver claimed his third successive pole at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Friday and again topped the time charts to ensure he will begin Saturday afternoon's F1 Sprint race in P1.

Leclerc finished SQ3 with his car in the barrier but the Red Bulls of Sergio Perez and world champion Max Verstappen could not capitalise as they took P2 and P3.

Carlos Sainz was hindered by the yellow flags his teammate brought out and the second Ferrari split the Mercedes of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton in fifth.

MORE: F1 qualifying results: Charles Leclerc on pole for Azerbaijan Grand Prix ahead of Max Verstappen

Azerbaijan F1 Sprint live updates

3hr 50 mins to F1 Sprint: The Azerbaijan Grand Prix F1 Sprint will take place at 5:30 p.m. local time. That's 2:30 p.m. BST and 9:30 a.m ET.  

F1 Sprint Shootout results Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2023 

Okay, here's how they will be starting for the F1 Sprint later today. Leclerc will do so with a new nose on his Ferrari!

Position Driver 1 Charles Leclerc 2 Sergio Perez 3 Max Verstappen 4 George Russell 5 Carlos Sainz 6 Lewis Hamilton 7 Alex Albon 8 Fernando Alonso 9 Lance Stroll 10 Lando Norris 11 Oscar Piastri 12 Nico Hulkenberg 13 Esteban Ocon 14 Kevin Magnussen 15 Logan Sargeant 16 Zhou Guanyu 17 Valtteri Bottas 18 Yuki Tsunoda 19 Pierre Gasly 20 Nyck De Vries

END OF SQ3: Leclerc into the barrier! He won't be going any faster. Can anyone take poll off him? Perez, Russell, Hamilton and Sainz can't, here's Verstappen... no! He's third behind Perez. Leclerc got caught up in his teammate's yellow flags there and is fifth behind Russell. Hamilton, Albon, Alonso, Stroll and Norris close out the top 10. We'll have the full grid listing up for you in a minute.

2 mins remaining in SQ3: This is some spectacle, with the cars now crawling up to turn 15 to maintain the types before a final hot lap. The cars have now bunched up, it looks like something out of the Tour de France. Off they go!

3 mins remaining in SQ3: Leclerc onto provisional pole, of course he is! Teammate Sainz only fourth at the moment as the drivers scramble to hit one more hot lap.

4 mins remaining in SQ3: Perez does captialise and goes faster than his teammate. Hamilton is faster than Russell in the Mercedes again. Albon ahead of the Stroll and Alonso in the Aston Martins. 

5 mins remaining in SQ3: Verstappen up in the first sector but just lost the back of his car a little bit. Can anyone else capitalise?

8 mins remaining in SQ3: Right, no time to take a beat. We're off again.

END OF SQ1: Lance Stroll leaps up into seventh to push McLaren's Oscar Piastri by three-hundredths of a second. It's a bitter pill for McLaren because Lando Norris takes 10th but he has no soft tyres available to compete in SQ3. Piastri Hulkenberg, Ocon, Magnussen and Sargeant are out.

Interestingly, Max Verstappen was quickest there, edging the dominant Charles Leclerc into second.

1 min remaining: Carlos Sainz is stationary down at turn 15. After his involvement in Sargeant's crash earlier he's proving to be a total chaos agent this Saturday in Baku. Sargeant is, of course, out, as is Esteban Ocon. Three more drivers to be cut.

2 mins remaining: A lot of cars out of sequence on the track and it's an absolute scramble for the top 10. George Russell gets himself up to seventh. Alex Albon 10th at the moment. 

3 mins remaining: Alonso up into third, so something's working for him!

4 mins remaining: We mentioned Aston Martin's DRS problems earlier. Alonso and Stroll are dicily sitting ninth and 10th just above the cut-off line. Tense times in that garage.

6 mins remaining: The Red Bulls of Verstappen and Perez go one-two ahead of the Mercedes of Hamilton and Russell. It's surely only a matter of time before Leclerc puts himself back at the top of the board?

10 mins remaining in SQ2: Off we go. The marshalls have worked rapidly to clear up Sargeant's debris. A rapid-fire race day at a street circuit encased by walls. What could possibly go wrong, eh?

2 mins until SQ2: Fernando Alonso has a problem with his DRS working intermittently. His Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll has his working just fine. The former world champion must be delighted.

RED FLAG, END OF SQ1: Logan Sargeant was pushing in the final minute and has clattered into the wall. His rear right wheel and rear wing are an absolute mess. He's through to SQ2 but will not be taking part with his Williams in that condition. It means Zhou, Bottas, Tsunoda, Gasly and De Vries are the men to miss the cut.

— Formula 1 (@F1) April 29, 2023

On his team radio, Sargeant was not happy with the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, which he felt forced him wide into the wall. It's doubtful the race stewards will get involved though. Talking of annoyed drivers, Yuki Tsunoda was on course to get into the top 15 before the red flags came. "You're f****** kidding me!" he yelled when told the bad news by the AlphaTauri garage.

2 mins remaining in SQ1: Williams duo Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant up in fifth and sixth and Lewis Hamilton has just gone into second behind Leclerc, only for Verstappen to respond.

4 mins remaining in SQ1: We've Aston Martins in P3 and P4 at th moment, with Lance Stroll ahead of his teammate Fernando Alonso.

6 mins remaining in SQ1: Leclerc puts a marker down, going quickest by almost a second ahead of Sergio Perez, whose teammate Verstappen then tucks in behind the pole-sitter.

12 mins remaining in SQ1: And we're off! hold on to your hats! There's a novelty here that the first lap every drive does counts. No warm ups, have to get right on with it. The first two sessions must be run on medium tyres, with soft tyres mandated for SQ3. But who's going to get there?

10 mins to Sprint Shootout: Right, so the Sprint Shootout will retain the Q1, Q2 and Q3 structure from full qualifying but with shorter sessions. SQ1 will be 12 minutes, down from 18; SQ2 is 10 minutes, down from 15, with SQ3 eight minutes as opposed to 12.

20 mins to Sprint Shootout: Leclerc loves it around this street circuit and Friday's hot lap gave him his third consecutive pole here. He will share the front row with world champion Max Verstappen, with Ferrari firing back at Red Bull after a disappointing start to the season. There was definitely a chaotic edge to yesterday's session so the truncated Sprint Shootout qualifying sessions definitely carry some capacity for mayhem.

A 19th pole in red ???? pic.twitter.com/8BHyv4uf9a

— Formula 1 (@F1) April 28, 2023

40 mins to Sprint Shootout: Right, so F1's new fast, furious, light-on-its-feet addition has been expanded for 2023. This race in Baku is the first of six F1 Sprints this season, up from three in the previous two years. However, the sprint no longer decides the grid for the main race. That was sorted out yesterday, with Charles Leclerc taking P1. On Saturdays from now on, F1 Sprint is off on its own trip, with the all-new F1 Sprint Shootout acting as a quickfire qualifying session to decide the starting grid for the sprint later in the day. 

1 hour to Sprint Shootout: Welcome to The Sporting News' live coverage of the inaugural F1 Sprint Shootout. This session will determine the starting grid for the sprint itself, taking place in three and a half hours' time, with that shortened race being worth points in the drivers' standings. 

MORE: What is F1 Sprint? Schedule, Shootout changes, points system and how format works in 2023

What time does the Azerbaijan F1 Grand Prix start? Date: Sunday, April 30 Start time: 3:00 p.m (Local) | 12:00 p.m (BST) | 7:00 a.m (ET) | 0:00 p.m (AEST)

Sunday's 2023 Azerbaijan is scheduled to start at 3:00 p.m. local time. Lights out will take place just after 7:00 a.m. ET and 12:00 p.m BST.

Below is the complete schedule for the weekend's F1 events in Baku. 

Date Event Time (BST) Time (ET)  Time (AEDT) Friday, Apr 28 Practice 1 10:30 a.m. 5:30 a.m 7:30 p.m Friday, Apr 28 Qualifying 2 p.m. 9:00 a.m 11 p.m Saturday, Apr 29 Practice 2 10:30 a.m. 5:30 a.m 7:30 p.m Saturday, Apr 29 Sprint 2:30 p.m. 9:30 a.m 11:30 p.m Sunday, Apr 30 Race 12 p.m. 7 a.m 9 p.m What TV channel is the F1 on?   UK USA Canada Australia TV Channel Sky Sports F1 ESPN/ABC TSN (English); RDS (French) Fox Sports Where can I live stream F1?   UK USA Canada Australia Live Stream NOW TV / Sky Go app ESPN+ fuboTV, TSN Direct Kayo F1 season schedule 2023

In 2023, the Formula One Calendar will be made up on 23 races across four different continents. 

The action began with the Bahrain Grand Prix on March 5 and will end on November 26 in Abu Dhabi. 

Here's the latest schedule (subject to change):

Date Race March 5  Bahrain Grand Prix March 19 Saudi Arabia Grand Prix April 2 Australian Grand Prix April 30 Azerbaijan Grand Prix May 7 Miami Grand Prix May 21 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix May 28 Monaco Grand Prix June 4 Spanish Grand Prix June 18 Canadian Grand Prix July 2 Austrian Grand Prix July 9  British Grand Prix July 23 Hungarian Grand Prix July 30 Belgian Grand Prix August 27 Dutch Grand Prix September 3 Italian Grand Prix September 17 Singapore Grand Prix September 24 Japanese Grand Prix October 8 Qatari Grand Prix October 22 United States Grand Prix October 29 Mexican Grand Prix November 5 Brazilian Grand Prix November 19 Las Vegas Grand Prix November 26 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix