🔗 Share this article Qatar's Short Race and Main Event Qualifying: Real-Time Updates Preamble Our correspondent is arriving soon to guide you through this day's sprint race (2pm GMT) and grid-setting session (6pm). Current Events Starting Lap Time The formation lap has begun. Circuit Details We have nineteen laps of the longest circuit in Formula One, David Croft points out. Final Moments The last moments is on. Racer Positions An advantage in Max Verstappen's favour: his fellow driver Yuki Tsunoda is ahead of him by one place. It's improbable to challenge the team's lead driver. Interview Updates Sky's internal discussion currently: the analyst is with Mercedes. The analyst is looking forward to the 2026 season, speaking with the engineer about his stepping up to Aston Martin team principal. Grid Details 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 again on Friday. The team have as a result adjusted to his car configuration and so he will start from the pit lane. The team's Stroll and the Alpine duo of Gasly and Colapinto are all starting from the same position. Driver Comments "We take the learning for the next day," states Isack Hadjar, 11th on the grid. Expect a lot of that. Team Standings It's not all about the individual championship: The team have run away with the constructors' gong but the team, with a forty-point advantage over Red Bull, will be hoping to secure the runner-up position this weekend. George Russell can help them achieve that from the front row, and Antonelli will start just behind the leader. Previous Results Piastri was victorious then – as he managed last year, too. The driver from McLaren is going for a hat-trick. Short Race Importance Right, just over twenty minutes to go until the sprint race begins. Unless something goes wrong, its main importance is as an indication of future events, rather than highly important in its itself, with only eight points available to the winner. Mind you, second place here was enough for Verstappen to claim the title two years ago. Max Verstappen claimed the championship after his teammate's accident of Qatar GP sprint race.