Qatar Short Race and Main Event Grid Setting: Real-Time Updates
Preamble
The author will be here shortly to cover this day's sprint race (14:00 GMT) and grid-setting session (18:00 GMT).
Current Events
Warm-Up Lap Time
The warm-up lap is underway.
Track Information
We have 19 laps around the lengthiest track in F1, David Croft points out.
Final Moments
The countdown is underway.
Racer Positions
One point in Max Verstappen's favour: his fellow driver Tsunoda is ahead of him by a single position. It's improbable to interfere with the team's main man.
Interview Updates
Sky's internal discussion currently: the analyst is with Mercedes.
Karun Chandhok is jumping ahead to the 2026 season, interviewing the engineer about his promotion to the team team principal.
Starting Positions
Just 16 cars on the grid. This followed another poor grid-setting session for the driver: after coming twentieth and final in Las Vegas, leading to an eighth-place finish in the main race, he did not manage to make it out of the first qualifying segment again on the previous day. The team have as a result made changes to his car configuration and so he will start from the starting area.
The team's Stroll and the Alpine pair of Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto are all doing likewise.
Racer Statements
"We take the experience for tomorrow," says Isack Hadjar, starting eleventh. There will be plenty of learning.
Constructors' Championship
The focus isn't solely on the individual championship: The team have dominated the constructors' gong but Mercedes, with a forty-point advantage over Red Bull, are aiming to secure the runner-up position during this event. 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 did the previous season, too. The driver from McLaren is going for a hat-trick.
Sprint Race Value
Alright, just over 20 minutes remaining until the short race gets under way. Unless something goes wrong, its main importance is as an indication of what is to come, instead of highly important in its own right, with only eight points available to the winner. Mind you, second place here was sufficient for Verstappen to become champion in a prior season.
The driver wins the championship after his teammate's accident of Qatar GP sprint race.
