🔗 Share this article Qatar Sprint Race and Main Event Grid Setting: Live Updates Preamble Philip is about to begin to guide you through today's short race (14:00 GMT) and grid-setting session (6pm). Live Feed Starting Lap Time The starting lap is underway. Circuit Details There are nineteen laps of the longest circuit in F1, David Croft reminds us. Countdown The final countdown is on. Driver Situation An advantage in Max Verstappen's favour: his teammate Tsunoda is ahead of him by one place. It's improbable to interfere with the team's main man. Media Conversations Sky's internal discussion now: the analyst is at the Mercedes team. The analyst is looking forward to 2026, interviewing Adrian Newey about his stepping up to the team lead role. Grid Details Just 16 cars on the grid. It was another bad qualifying for the driver: following his result of 20th and last in Las Vegas, resulting in an eighth position in the main race, he failed to advance of the first qualifying segment again on Friday. The team have consequently adjusted to his car configuration and so he begins from the starting area. The team's Lance Stroll and the Alpine pair of Gasly and Colapinto are all doing likewise. Driver Comments "We take the learning for tomorrow," states Isack Hadjar, starting eleventh. There will be plenty of learning. Constructors' Championship It's not all about the drivers' title: McLaren have dominated the team championship but Mercedes, with a forty-point advantage over their rivals, are aiming to seal second place during this event. George Russell can assist in this goal from second place, and Kimi Antonelli will begin immediately after Verstappen. Past Performance Oscar Piastri was victorious then – as he did last year, too. The driver from McLaren is going for a third consecutive win. Short Race Importance Right, just over 20 minutes to go until the sprint race gets under way. Unless something goes wrong, its main importance 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 Verstappen to claim the title in a prior season. The driver claimed F1 world title after Pérez crashes out of the short race.