LIVE: Grand Prix of Europe FP1

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Follow the first free practice session for this year's Grand Prix of Europe as all the action is brought to you live with our full, comprehensive as-it-happens coverage from F1i.

It's been a tight turnaround for everyone to fly all the way from Montreal last Sunday in time to be ready for the first race to be staged on the brand new Baku City Circuit in the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Baku is certainly a stunning location unlike anything we've seen before, with stylish ultra-modern architecture nestling side-by-side with historic castles. Into this is injected all the distinctive unique paraphernalia of a Formula One event.

At just over six kilometres, it's the second longest circuit on the current Formula One world championship calendar with only Spa-Francorchamps beating it. In some aspects it even resembles that classic forest circuit, but other sections of the track have the tricky street circuit feel familiar from the likes of Monaco and Singapore.

Put the two together and you have a circuit that requires both high downforce (for the twisty sections) and minimal downforce (for the two kilometre main straight, unique in Formula One and indeed the longest straight of any motor racing circuit in the world today.)

How will teams solve this seemingly impossible dilemma? We'll have to wait and see. Whoever comes closest to the perfect solution will likely be standing on top of the podium on Sunday. Engine power will also be vital which might play into the hands of Mercedes, Ferrari and Williams while putting Red Bull and McLaren at a possible disadvantage.

But that's all guesswork. No one really knows how the track will shape up until they get out to try it for themselves this morning. That makes today's two practice sessions possibly the most important of their kind all year - it should certainly be thrilling and eventful.

Will Lewis Hamilton come out top for the third race in succession? Or will Nico Rosberg get back to winning ways? Perhaps the new circuit will be just the tonic Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen need to get Ferrari to the top step of the podium after a long wait? Or maybe it will be a surprise winner from the likes of Daniel Ricciardo, Max Verstappen, Felipe Massa, Valtteri Bottas, Sergio Perez or Nico Hulkenberg?

It all starts here with FP1 at 1pm local time (10am BST). We'll be bringing you all the news and information from trackside as it happens on F1i's live page.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.