Qatar's Short Race and Main Event Grid Setting: Live Updates
Opening Notes
Our correspondent will be here shortly to guide you through today's short race (14:00 GMT) and grid-setting session (18:00 GMT).
Current Events
Starting Lap Time
The starting lap has begun.
Circuit Details
We have 19 laps of the longest circuit in Formula One, the commentator reminds us.
Final Moments
The countdown is on.
Driver Situation
An advantage in Max Verstappen's favour: his teammate Tsunoda is ahead of him by a single position. He is unlikely to mess with Red Bull's main man.
Interview Updates
Sky interviewing Sky currently: the analyst is at the Mercedes team.
The analyst is jumping ahead to the 2026 season, speaking with the engineer about his promotion to the team team principal.
Grid Details
Just 16 cars on the grid. It was another poor grid-setting session for Lewis Hamilton: after coming twentieth and final in Las Vegas, leading to an eighth-place finish in the main race, he failed to make it out of the first qualifying segment again on the previous day. Ferrari have as a result made changes to his setup and so he will start from the starting area.
Aston Martin's Lance Stroll and the Alpine pair of Gasly and Franco Colapinto are all doing likewise.
Driver Comments
"We'll use the experience for the next day," states Isack Hadjar, starting eleventh. Expect plenty of learning.
Constructors' Championship
It's not all about the individual championship: The team have run away with the team championship but Mercedes, with a forty-point advantage over their rivals, are aiming to seal second place during this event. George Russell can help them achieve that from second place, and Antonelli will start just behind Verstappen.
Previous Results
Piastri won that day – as he did last year, too. The driver from McLaren is going for a hat-trick.
Sprint Race Value
Right, just over 20 minutes remaining till the sprint race gets under way. Barring disaster, it's greatest value is as an indication of future events, rather than highly important in its own right, with only eight points awarded to the winner. However, the runner-up spot here was sufficient for Verstappen to become champion two years ago.
The driver claimed F1 world title after Pérez crashes out of the short race.
