🔗 Share this article Qatar Short Race and Main Event Grid Setting: Live Coverage Introduction Our correspondent is arriving soon to take you through today's short race (14:00 GMT) and qualifying (18:00 GMT). Real-Time Updates Formation Lap Time The formation lap has started. Track Information We have nineteen laps around the lengthiest track in Formula One, the commentator points out. Final Moments The final countdown has begun. Racer Positions One point in Max Verstappen's favour: his fellow driver Tsunoda is ahead of him by one place. It's improbable to mess with the team's main man. Interview Updates Sky interviewing Sky now: Gary Neville is with Mercedes. The analyst is looking forward to 2026, interviewing Adrian Newey about his stepping up to the team lead role. Starting Positions Just sixteen vehicles on the grid. This followed another poor grid-setting session for Lewis Hamilton: after coming 20th and last in Las Vegas, resulting in an eighth position in the main race, he did not manage to make it out of the first qualifying segment once more on Friday. The team have as a result adjusted to his setup and so he will start from the starting area. Aston Martin's Stroll and the Alpine duo of Pierre Gasly and Colapinto are all doing likewise. Driver Comments "We take the experience for tomorrow," says Isack Hadjar, 11th on the grid. Expect plenty of learning. Team Standings It's not all about the drivers' title: McLaren have run away with the constructors' gong but Mercedes, with a forty-point advantage over Red Bull, will be hoping to seal second place during this event. George Russell can assist in this goal from the front row, and Antonelli will start just behind the leader. Past Performance Piastri was victorious then – as he managed last year, as well. McLaren's Australian is going for a hat-trick. Sprint Race Value Right, approximately twenty minutes remaining till the sprint race begins. Unless something goes wrong, it's greatest value is as an indication of what is to come, instead of highly important in its itself, with just eight championship points available to the victor. Mind you, second place here was sufficient for Verstappen to claim the title in a prior season. The driver wins the championship following his teammate's accident of Qatar GP sprint race.