🔗 Share this article Qatar Sprint Race and Main Event Grid Setting: Live Coverage Opening Notes The author is arriving soon to guide you through this day's short race (2pm GMT) and qualifying (18:00 GMT). Current Events Starting Lap Time The warm-up lap has started. Track Information There are 19 laps around the lengthiest track in Formula One, David Croft reminds us. Countdown The last moments is underway. Driver Situation An advantage in Verstappen's favour: his teammate Tsunoda is ahead of him by one place. It's improbable to mess with the team's lead driver. Interview Updates Sky's internal discussion currently: Gary Neville is with Mercedes. The analyst is jumping ahead to 2026, interviewing Adrian Newey about his stepping up to Aston Martin team principal. Starting Positions Just 16 cars on the grid. It was another poor grid-setting session for Lewis Hamilton: after coming 20th and last in the previous race, resulting in an eighth-place finish in the grand prix, he did not manage to advance of Q1 once more on Friday. The team have as a result made changes to his car configuration and so he begins from the pit lane. Aston Martin's Lance Stroll and the Alpine duo of Pierre 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 The focus isn't solely on the drivers' title: The team have dominated the constructors' gong but the team, with a forty-point advantage over Red Bull, are aiming to seal second place this weekend. Russell can help them achieve that from the front row, and Kimi Antonelli will start just behind the leader. Past Performance Piastri was victorious then – as he managed last year, too. McLaren's Australian is going for a third consecutive win. Sprint Race Value Right, approximately 20 minutes to go until the sprint race begins. Barring disaster, it's greatest value is as an indication of what is to come, instead of significant in its own right, with just eight championship points awarded to the victor. However, second place here was enough for the driver to become champion in a prior season. The driver wins F1 world title following his teammate's accident of Qatar GP sprint race.