Qatar Short Race and Main Event Grid Setting: Real-Time Updates
Introduction
The author will be here shortly to cover today's sprint race (14:00 GMT) and grid-setting session (6pm).
Live Feed
Starting Lap Time
The starting lap has begun.
Track Information
We have nineteen laps around the lengthiest track in Formula 1, the commentator points out.
Final Moments
The last moments is underway.
Racer Positions
An advantage in Verstappen's advantage: his teammate Tsunoda is ahead of him by a single position. It's improbable to interfere with the team's main man.
Interview Updates
Sky interviewing Sky now: the analyst is with Mercedes.
The analyst is jumping ahead to the 2026 season, interviewing Adrian Newey about his promotion to the team team principal.
Grid Details
There are only 16 cars on the grid. It was another bad qualifying for the driver: after coming twentieth and final in Las Vegas, resulting in an eighth position in the main race, he failed to advance of the first qualifying segment once more on the previous day. The team have as a result made changes to his setup and so he will start from the pit lane.
Aston Martin's Lance Stroll and the Alpine pair of Gasly and Colapinto are all doing likewise.
Driver Comments
"We take the experience for the next day," says Hadjar, starting eleventh. Expect a lot of that.
Constructors' Championship
The focus isn't solely on the drivers' title: McLaren have dominated the constructors' gong but Mercedes, with a 40-point lead over their rivals, will be hoping to seal second place this weekend. Russell can help them achieve that from second place, and Kimi Antonelli will begin immediately after the leader.
Previous Results
Piastri won that day – as he managed last year, too. McLaren's Australian is going for a third consecutive win.
Short Race Importance
Right, approximately twenty minutes remaining till the sprint race begins. Barring disaster, its main importance is as an indication of future events, instead of highly important in its own right, with only eight points awarded to the victor. Mind you, second place here was sufficient for the driver to become champion in a prior season.
Max Verstappen wins F1 world title following Pérez crashes out of the short race.