🔗 Share this article Qatar Short Race and Main Event Grid Setting: Live Coverage Opening Notes Our correspondent is arriving soon to guide you through this day's sprint race (14:00 GMT) and grid-setting session (18:00 GMT). Live Feed Formation Lap Period The starting lap has started. Circuit Details There are nineteen laps of the longest circuit in F1, David Croft informs us. Countdown The countdown has begun. Driver Situation One point in Max Verstappen's advantage: his teammate Yuki Tsunoda is ahead of him by a single position. It's improbable to interfere with the team's lead driver. Interview Updates Sky's internal discussion now: the analyst is at the Mercedes team. Karun Chandhok is looking forward to 2026, speaking with Adrian Newey about his stepping up to Aston Martin lead role. Grid Details There are only sixteen vehicles on the grid. It was another bad qualifying for the driver: after coming twentieth and final in Las Vegas, leading to an eighth position in the main race, he did not manage to advance of Q1 again on Friday. The team have consequently made changes to his setup and so he begins from the starting area. The team's Stroll and the Alpine pair of Pierre Gasly and Colapinto are all starting from the same position. Racer Statements "We take the experience for tomorrow," states Hadjar, starting eleventh. There will be plenty of learning. Constructors' Championship The focus isn't solely on the drivers' title: McLaren have run away with the team championship but Mercedes, with a forty-point advantage over Red Bull, are aiming to secure the runner-up position this weekend. George Russell can assist in this goal from the front row, and Kimi Antonelli will begin immediately after Verstappen. Past Performance Piastri was victorious then – as he did the previous season, as well. McLaren's Australian is attempting a third consecutive win. Sprint Race Value Right, just over 20 minutes remaining until the short race begins. Barring disaster, its main importance is as an indication of what is to come, rather than highly important in its itself, with just eight championship points awarded to the victor. However, the runner-up spot here was enough for Verstappen to become champion in a prior season. Max Verstappen claimed F1 world title following Pérez crashes out of Qatar GP sprint race.