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F1 Qatar GP LIVE: Sprint qualifying updates, stream and times as Lewis Hamilton goes for pole
F1 live updates from sprint qualifying at the Lusail International Circuit as the drivers eye pole position
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Your support makes all the difference.F1 next heads to Lusail for the Qatar Grand Prix and the final sprint weekend of the 2024 season.
Max Verstappen secured the drivers’ world championship at the last race in Las Vegas, his fourth in a row, with Lando Norris unable to catch him at the two remaining rounds.
The main battle is now for the constructors’ championship. Leaders McLaren are just 24 points ahead of Ferrari, with Red Bull a further 29 points back.
Verstappen won last year’s race at the Lusail International Circuit, though Oscar Piastri did win the sprint race. This weekend will also be Lewis Hamilton’s penultimate race weekend for Mercedes.
Live stream: Sky Sports subscribers can watch all the action in Lusail on the Sky Go app. If you’re not a Sky customer you can grab a NOWTV Day Pass here to watch without a subscription.
F1 Qatar GP LIVE: Fernando Alonso out!
Fernando Alonso is just knocked out right at the end by Pierre Gasly!
Bottom-five and out in SQ2 (11-15): Alonso, Albon, Bottas, Stroll, Magnussen
Top-3: Norris, Russell, Piastri
Liam Lawson sneaks through in P10!
F1 Qatar GP LIVE: Oscar Piastri now in trouble!
Piastri’s lap time was deleted and now he’s in P14!
Current bottom-five (11-15): Alonso, Stroll, Bottas, Piastri, Magnussen
Will the Aussie make it?!
F1 Qatar GP LIVE: Oscar Piastri quickest early on!
Piastri goes quickest for McLaren, with the Mercedes pairing yet to set a timed lap!
Current bottom-five (11-15): Lawson, Russell, Hamilton, Magnussen, Bottas
Top-3: Piastri, Leclerc, Norris
Just 4:00 to go...
F1 Qatar GP LIVE: SQ2 underway!
Eight of the 15 remaining drivers straight out on track at the start of SQ2!
10 minutes where we will again lose the slowest five drivers before the top-10 shootout.
Medium tyre, again, the compulsory compound in use...
F1 Qatar GP LIVE: Sergio Perez out in SQ1!
Sergio Perez is knocked out in the first stage of qualifying again - by just 0.013 seconds!
Deary me, when will it turn around for Checo?!
Bottom-five (16-20) and out in SQ1: Perez, Tsunoda, Ocon, Zhou, Colapinto
Alex Albon escapes in P15!
Top-3: Norris, Sainz, Russell
F1 Qatar GP LIVE: Lewis Hamilton is in the bottom-five!
Trouble for Hamilton with three minutes left
Current bottom-five (16-20): Alonso, Hamilton, Tsunoda, Zhou, Colapinto
2:00 to go in SQ1!
F1 Qatar GP LIVE: Lando Norris goes quickest early on
Promising stuff for McLaren early on, with Norris top of the timesheet with a 1:22:785, four-tenths quicker than Charles Leclerc in third - George Russell splits them in second!
Current bottom-five (16-20): Perez, Lawson, Zhou, Colapinto, Alonso
5:00 to go in SQ1
F1 Qatar GP LIVE: SQ1 underway!
Here we go then!
12 minutes in this quickfire first qualifying session where we will lose the slowest five drivers from the remainder of qualifying!
And the medium compound is the compulsory tyre of use!
F1 Qatar GP LIVE: Sprint qualifying coming right up!
Five minutes from sprint qualifying then - is Charles Leclerc the favourite after his rapid lap in practice earlier?
And what about McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull - they’re always in the mix!
It’ll be quickfire in what is the last sprint qualifying of the 2024 season!
How does the sprint race work?
The result of the Saturday morning sprint – a 100km dash, roughly a third of the distance of the grand prix – will not impact the grid for Sunday. Points will be awarded to the top-eight, as was the case in 2023.
The sprint race result will not have any impact on the grand prix qualifying on Saturday or the grand prix on Sunday.
Sprint qualifying will follow the same Q1-Q2-Q3 format but the session times will be shorter than traditional qualifying: SQ1 (medium tyres) will be 12 minutes, SQ2 (medium tyres) will be 10 minutes and SQ3 (soft tyres) will be eight minutes.
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