Qatar Sprint Race and Main Event Qualifying: Live Coverage

Preamble

Our correspondent is about to begin to guide you through today's sprint race (14:00 GMT) and qualifying (6pm).

Live Feed

Starting Lap Time

The formation lap is underway.

Track Information

We have 19 laps of the longest circuit in Formula One, David Croft informs us.

Countdown

The last moments is underway.

Driver Situation

An advantage in Max Verstappen's favour: his fellow driver Yuki Tsunoda is in front of him by one place. It's improbable to interfere with the team's lead driver.

Interview Updates

Sky speaking with Sky now: Gary Neville is at the Mercedes team.

The analyst is looking forward to 2026, speaking with the engineer about his promotion to Aston Martin lead role.

Grid Details

Just sixteen vehicles on the grid. This followed another bad qualifying for Lewis Hamilton: after coming twentieth and final in Las Vegas, leading to an eighth position in the grand prix, he failed to make it out of Q1 again on the previous day. Ferrari have consequently made changes to his car configuration and so he begins from the starting area.

Aston Martin's Lance Stroll and the Alpine duo of Gasly and Colapinto are all starting from the same position.

Racer Statements

"We take the learning for the next day," states Isack Hadjar, starting eleventh. Expect a lot of that.

Team Standings

It's not all about the individual championship: The team have dominated the team championship but Mercedes, with a 40-point lead over Red Bull, are aiming to secure the runner-up position this weekend. George Russell can help them achieve that from the front row, and Kimi Antonelli will start just behind Verstappen.

Past Performance

Oscar Piastri was victorious then – as he did the previous season, as well. McLaren's Australian is going for a hat-trick.

Short Race Importance

Alright, just over 20 minutes to go until the sprint race begins. Barring disaster, it's greatest value is as a preview of what is to come, rather than highly important in its own right, with just eight championship points awarded to the victor. However, second place in this race was sufficient for the driver to claim the title two years ago.

The driver claimed F1 world title following his teammate's accident of the short race.
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