Qatar's Sprint Race and Main Event Grid Setting: Real-Time Updates
Preamble
Our correspondent will be here shortly to guide you through this day's sprint race (14:00 GMT) and grid-setting session (18:00 GMT).
Current Events
Starting Lap Time
The starting lap has started.
Circuit Details
There are nineteen laps of the longest circuit in Formula One, David Croft points out.
Countdown
The last moments is underway.
Driver Situation
One point in Verstappen's advantage: his teammate Yuki Tsunoda is ahead of him by one place. It's improbable to challenge the team's main man.
Media Conversations
Sky interviewing Sky currently: the analyst is at the Mercedes team.
The analyst is looking forward to 2026, speaking with Adrian Newey about his promotion to Aston Martin lead role.
Grid Details
Just sixteen vehicles on the grid. This followed another poor grid-setting session for Lewis Hamilton: after coming 20th and last in Las Vegas, resulting in an eighth-place finish in the grand prix, he failed to advance of Q1 once more on the previous day. Ferrari have consequently made changes to his car configuration and so he begins from the starting area.
The team's Stroll and the Alpine pair of Gasly and Colapinto are all doing likewise.
Racer Statements
"We take the learning for tomorrow," says Isack Hadjar, starting eleventh. Expect plenty of learning.
Constructors' Championship
It's not all about the individual championship: The team have dominated the team championship but the team, with a forty-point advantage over Red Bull, will be hoping to secure the runner-up position during this event. Russell can help them achieve that from the front row, and Antonelli will begin immediately after the leader.
Previous Results
Piastri was victorious then – as he managed last year, too. McLaren's Australian is attempting a third consecutive win.
Short Race Importance
Right, approximately 20 minutes to go till the sprint race gets under way. Barring disaster, its main importance is as a preview of what is to come, rather than significant in its own right, with just eight championship points awarded to the winner. However, the runner-up spot in this race was sufficient for Verstappen to claim the title two years ago.
The driver wins the championship following his teammate's accident of Qatar GP sprint race.
