Qatar Short Race and Grand Prix Grid Setting: Live Updates
Opening Notes
The author will be here shortly to cover this day's short race (2pm GMT) and grid-setting session (6pm).
Current Events
Formation Lap Time
The warm-up lap has started.
Track Information
We have nineteen laps of the longest circuit in F1, David Croft informs us.
Final Moments
The countdown is on.
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 mess with Red Bull's lead driver.
Media Conversations
Sky interviewing Sky currently: Gary Neville is with Mercedes.
Karun Chandhok is jumping ahead to 2026, speaking with the engineer about his promotion to the team team principal.
Starting Positions
There are only 16 cars on the grid. This followed another poor grid-setting session for the driver: after coming twentieth and final in Las Vegas, resulting in an eighth-place finish in the grand prix, he failed to make it out of the first qualifying segment once more on the previous day. Ferrari have consequently adjusted to his car configuration and so he will start from the pit lane.
The team's Lance Stroll and the Alpine pair of Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto are all doing likewise.
Driver Comments
"We take the learning for tomorrow," says Hadjar, starting eleventh. There will be a lot of that.
Team Standings
It's not all about the drivers' title: The team have run away with the team championship but the team, with a forty-point advantage over their rivals, are aiming to seal second place during this event. George Russell can help them achieve that from the front row, and Antonelli will begin immediately after Verstappen.
Previous Results
Piastri won that day – as he did the previous season, too. The driver from McLaren is going for a third consecutive win.
Sprint Race Value
Alright, just over 20 minutes remaining till the sprint race gets under way. Unless something goes wrong, its main importance is as a preview of what is to come, rather than significant in its own right, with just eight championship points available to the winner. However, second place in this race was enough for the driver to claim the title in a prior season.
Max Verstappen claimed F1 world title following his teammate's accident of the short race.
