🔗 Share this article Qatar's Short Race and Grand Prix Grid Setting: Live Coverage Opening Notes Our correspondent is about to begin to take you through this day's short race (2pm GMT) and grid-setting session (18:00 GMT). Live Feed Formation Lap Time The warm-up lap has started. Track Information There are nineteen laps around the lengthiest track in F1, David Croft points out. Final Moments The countdown has begun. Racer Positions An advantage in Max Verstappen's favour: his teammate Tsunoda is ahead of him by a single position. It's improbable to mess with Red Bull's lead driver. Media Conversations Sky's internal discussion now: the analyst is at the Mercedes team. Karun Chandhok is jumping ahead to 2026, speaking with Adrian Newey about his stepping up to the team lead role. Grid Details There are only 16 cars on the grid. It was another bad qualifying for Lewis Hamilton: after coming twentieth and final in the previous race, leading to an eighth-place finish in the grand prix, he failed to make it out of Q1 again on the previous day. The team have as a result adjusted to his car configuration and so he begins 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'll use the experience for the next day," states Isack Hadjar, starting eleventh. Expect a lot of that. Team Standings The focus isn't solely on the individual championship: McLaren have run away with the team championship but Mercedes, with a 40-point lead over Red Bull, will be hoping to secure the runner-up position during this event. George Russell can help them achieve that from the front row, and Antonelli will begin immediately after the leader. Past Performance Piastri was victorious then – as he managed the previous season, too. The driver from McLaren is going for a hat-trick. Short Race Importance Alright, approximately twenty minutes to go till the short race begins. Unless something goes wrong, it's greatest value is as an indication of future events, rather than highly important in its own right, with just eight championship points awarded to the winner. Mind you, second place here was enough for the driver to become champion in a prior season. Max Verstappen wins the championship following Pérez crashes out of Qatar GP sprint race.