Qatar Sprint Race and Main Event Grid Setting: Live Updates
Preamble
Our correspondent is arriving soon to take you through this day's short race (2pm GMT) and grid-setting session (6pm).
Live Feed
Warm-Up Lap Time
The warm-up lap has begun.
Circuit Details
There are 19 laps around the lengthiest track in Formula One, David Croft reminds us.
Countdown
The final countdown has begun.
Racer Positions
One point in Max Verstappen's favour: his fellow driver Yuki Tsunoda is ahead of him by a single position. He is unlikely to challenge the team's main man.
Interview Updates
Sky interviewing Sky now: the analyst is at the Mercedes team.
The analyst is jumping ahead to 2026, speaking with Adrian Newey about his stepping up to Aston Martin lead role.
Grid Details
There are only sixteen vehicles on the grid. It was another bad qualifying for Lewis Hamilton: following his result of twentieth and final in the previous race, resulting in an eighth position in the main race, he failed to advance of Q1 once more on the previous day. Ferrari have as a result adjusted to his car configuration and so he will start from the starting area.
The team's Stroll and the Alpine pair of Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto are all doing likewise.
Driver Comments
"We'll use the experience for the next day," says Isack Hadjar, starting eleventh. Expect a lot of that.
Team Standings
It's not all about the individual championship: McLaren have run away with the team championship but Mercedes, with a 40-point lead over Red Bull, will be hoping to secure the runner-up position this weekend. Russell can help them achieve that from second place, and Antonelli will begin immediately after Verstappen.
Past Performance
Piastri won that day – as he did the previous season, too. McLaren's Australian is going for a hat-trick.
Sprint Race Value
Right, approximately twenty minutes to go till the short race gets under way. Unless something goes wrong, its main importance is as a preview of future events, instead of highly important in its own right, with just eight championship points awarded to the victor. However, the runner-up spot here was enough for the driver to become champion two years ago.
Max Verstappen wins the championship after his teammate's accident of the short race.