🔗 Share this article Qatar's Sprint Race and Main Event Qualifying: Live Coverage Preamble Philip will be here shortly to take you through today's short race (14:00 GMT) and qualifying (6pm). Live Feed Formation Lap Period The warm-up lap has begun. Track Information There are 19 laps of the longest circuit in Formula One, the commentator points out. Countdown The last moments is on. Racer Positions One point in Verstappen's advantage: 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 speaking with Sky now: Gary Neville is at the Mercedes team. The analyst is looking forward to the 2026 season, interviewing the engineer about his promotion to the team team principal. Grid Details Just 16 cars on the grid. It was another bad qualifying for the driver: following his result of twentieth and final in Las Vegas, resulting in an eighth-place finish in the main race, he failed to make it out of the first qualifying segment again on the previous day. The team have consequently made changes to his car configuration and so he begins from the pit lane. Aston Martin's Lance Stroll and the Alpine duo of Pierre Gasly and Colapinto are all starting from the same position. Driver Comments "We'll use the experience for tomorrow," says Isack Hadjar, 11th on the grid. Expect a lot of that. Constructors' Championship The focus isn't solely on the individual championship: The team have run away with the constructors' gong but Mercedes, with a 40-point lead over Red Bull, will be hoping to secure the runner-up position this weekend. Russell can assist in this goal from the front row, and Kimi Antonelli will begin immediately after the leader. Previous Results Piastri was victorious then – as he did the previous season, as well. The driver from McLaren is going for a third consecutive win. Short Race Importance Right, just over 20 minutes to go till the short race gets under way. Unless something goes wrong, it's greatest value is as an indication of future events, instead of highly important in its itself, with just eight championship points awarded to the victor. Mind you, the runner-up spot in this race was enough for Verstappen to claim the title two years ago. Max Verstappen claimed the championship following Pérez crashes out of the short race.