🔗 Share this article Qatar's Sprint Race and Main Event Grid Setting: Live Updates Preamble The author is arriving soon to guide you through this day's short race (14:00 GMT) and grid-setting session (6pm). Live Feed Warm-Up Lap Time The starting lap is underway. Track Information We have nineteen laps of the longest circuit in F1, the commentator informs us. Countdown The final countdown is on. Driver Situation An advantage in Verstappen's advantage: his teammate Tsunoda is ahead of him by a single position. He is unlikely to challenge the team's lead driver. Interview Updates Sky interviewing Sky now: Gary Neville is with Mercedes. Karun Chandhok is looking forward to the 2026 season, speaking with the engineer about his stepping up to Aston Martin team principal. Starting Positions There are only sixteen vehicles on the grid. This followed another poor grid-setting session for the driver: following his result of twentieth and final in the previous race, resulting in an eighth position in the grand prix, he failed to make it out of Q1 once more on the previous day. The team have as a result made changes to his setup and so he begins from the pit lane. The team's Stroll and the Alpine duo of Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto are all doing likewise. Racer Statements "We'll use the experience for tomorrow," says Hadjar, starting eleventh. Expect plenty of learning. Constructors' Championship It's not all about the individual championship: The team have run away with the team championship but the team, with a forty-point advantage over Red Bull, are aiming to seal second place this weekend. George Russell can help them achieve that from second place, and Antonelli will begin immediately after Verstappen. Past Performance Piastri won that day – as he did the previous season, as well. The driver from McLaren is going for a hat-trick. Sprint Race Value Alright, approximately 20 minutes to go until the sprint race begins. Unless something goes wrong, it's greatest value is as a preview of what is to come, rather than highly important in its itself, with only eight points awarded to the winner. However, the runner-up spot in this race was enough for Verstappen to claim the title in a prior season. Max Verstappen claimed the championship after Pérez crashes out of the short race.