2024 F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Qualifying - As it happened

Now on the softs, Russell moves into fourth, 0.258s off Verstappen's top time.

Hamilton manages ninth, 0.5s off the pace. 

A 1m28.491s puts Verstappen top of the pile, 0.2s ahead of Leclerc.

Alonso slots into third.

He moves up to fourth in the Ferrari with a fastest final sector. Mega effort.

A 1m28.755s for Piastri puts him top of the pile, less than a tenth ahead of Norris.

He glances the wall at the final corner for good measure. 

Leclerc moves up to second in the Ferrari, setting the quickest final sector of anyone. 

On the medium tyre, Hamilton and Russell slot into sixth and seventh. Solid efforts.

A fine lap from the Aston Martin driver to set a 1m28.876s, putting him 0.3s ahead of teammate Stroll.

A 1m29.173s for the German puts him 0.1s ahead of Piastri. Magnussen, Albon and Sargeant complete the top five.

The two Mercedes drivers have opted for the mediums; rest of the grid are on softs.

Piastri, Magnussen, Gasly, Ocon, Hulkenberg and Bottas are the first drivers out there in Q1.

Albon and Sargeant also take to the circuit. 

"He did the surgery. He is ok, not for this weekend, for sure. But I hope that he will be back soon," he said.

"It’s a tough moment but everything is going in the right direction now and we have to think about the future.

"It started on Thursday morning that he didn’t feel very well. At the beginning we are thinking about a food issue, and this morning it was even worse. He went to the hospital and it was quite obvious."  

The big story is at Ferrari with 18-year-old Brit Oliver Bearman set to take part in his first-ever qualifying session.

Bearman was 10th-fastest in final practice in his first competitive outing for Ferrari.

Max Verstappen was - like he has been for the last two years - the driver to beat in final practice.

He was just under 0.2s clear of Charles Leclerc in FP3. He failed to improve on his final run so there's probably more to come from the Red Bull driver.