Qatar Sprint Race and Grand Prix Grid Setting: Live Updates
Introduction
The author will be here shortly to guide you through today's short race (2pm GMT) and qualifying (18:00 GMT).
Current Events
Starting Lap Period
The warm-up lap has begun.
Circuit Details
We have nineteen laps around the lengthiest track in F1, David Croft reminds us.
Countdown
The last moments has begun.
Driver Situation
One point in Max Verstappen's advantage: his teammate Yuki Tsunoda is in front of him by one place. It's improbable to interfere with the team's main man.
Interview Updates
Sky speaking with Sky now: the analyst is with Mercedes.
The analyst is jumping ahead to 2026, interviewing Adrian Newey about his stepping up to Aston Martin lead role.
Grid Details
There are only 16 cars on the grid. It was another bad qualifying for Lewis Hamilton: after coming twentieth and final in the previous race, leading to an eighth-place finish in the main race, he did not manage to make it out of the first qualifying segment once more on Friday. The team have as a result adjusted to his setup and so he begins from the starting area.
Aston Martin's Lance Stroll and the Alpine duo of Gasly and Franco Colapinto are all doing likewise.
Racer Statements
"We'll use the learning for tomorrow," says Hadjar, starting eleventh. Expect a lot of that.
Constructors' Championship
The focus isn't solely on the individual championship: McLaren have run away with the team championship but the team, with a forty-point advantage over their rivals, are aiming to seal second place this weekend. George Russell can help them achieve that from the front row, and Antonelli will begin immediately after Verstappen.
Past Performance
Piastri won that day – as he did the previous season, too. The driver from McLaren is going for a hat-trick.
Sprint Race Value
Right, approximately twenty minutes remaining until the sprint race begins. Barring disaster, it's greatest value is as a preview of future events, instead of highly important in its itself, with just eight championship points awarded to the winner. However, the runner-up spot in this race was enough for Verstappen to become champion two years ago.
The driver wins the championship after his teammate's accident of the short race.
