🔗 Share this article Qatar Sprint Race and Grand Prix Grid Setting: Live Coverage Preamble Philip is about to begin to cover today's short race (14:00 GMT) and grid-setting session (18:00 GMT). Real-Time Updates Formation Lap Time The warm-up lap has begun. Track Information There are nineteen laps around the lengthiest track in F1, David Croft reminds us. Final Moments The final countdown has begun. Racer Positions One point in Verstappen's advantage: his teammate Yuki Tsunoda is ahead of him by a single position. He is unlikely to challenge the team's lead driver. Media Conversations Sky interviewing Sky now: Gary Neville is at the Mercedes team. The analyst is jumping ahead to 2026, speaking with Adrian Newey about his promotion to the team team principal. Starting Positions Just 16 cars on the grid. This followed another bad qualifying for the driver: after coming twentieth and final in Las Vegas, leading to an eighth-place finish in the grand prix, he failed to advance of Q1 once more on Friday. Ferrari have as a result made changes to his setup and so he begins from the pit lane. Aston Martin's Lance Stroll and the Alpine pair of Pierre Gasly and Colapinto are all starting from the same position. Driver Comments "We'll use the experience for tomorrow," says Hadjar, starting eleventh. Expect plenty of learning. Team Standings It's not all about the individual championship: The team have dominated the constructors' gong but the team, with a forty-point advantage over their rivals, are aiming to secure the runner-up position this weekend. George Russell can assist in this goal from the front row, and Antonelli will begin immediately after Verstappen. Previous Results Piastri won that day – as he managed the previous season, too. McLaren's Australian is attempting a hat-trick. Sprint Race Value Alright, approximately twenty minutes remaining until the sprint race gets under way. Barring disaster, it's greatest value is as an indication of what is to come, rather than significant in its own right, with only eight points awarded to the winner. However, the runner-up spot here was enough for the driver to become champion two years ago. The driver wins F1 world title after his teammate's accident of the short race.