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Antonelli is up to sixth for Mercedes. On time he is fifth, though, because of Tsunoda’s penalty. Russell ahead of Verstappen, Antonelli in effect ahead of Tsunoda: Mercedes stretching their advantage over Red Bull by three points.
Stroll pits. Tyre change, to the softs. Using it as test session.
Tsunoda gets a five-second time penalty for breaching track limits.
At this stage we have no idea how the contenders will line up for tomorrow’s grid. But bearing in mind Verstappen’s fade, this is looking like good news for McLaren. If he can’t sustain pressure then the title could be down to Norris v Piastri.
It’s looking very smooth for Piastri. But it’s getting windy and drivers are breaching track limits. Could this be a factor tomorrow?
We are approaching halfway.
But Norris has pulled clear of Verstappen for now. As Croft and Brundle keep repeating, third, third, third and Norris will be champion in Abu Dhabi. But can you really do that? Nick Faldo won the 1987 Open with 18 straight pars in the final round …
Norris has lost DRS but Verstappen still too far back.
A bad day for Ferrari: Charles Leclerc lost four places at the start and is down in 13th. The team’s chances of overtaking Red Bull in the constructors’ standings are diminishing.
Verstappen knows he has no danger behind him, with Tsunoda in fifth ahead of Alonso.
Norris has got close enough to Russell and that helps him stay clear.
Norris needs to get close enough to Russell to get his own DRS. Trains are his friends.
Verstappen closes on Norris at turn one but can’t get past.
Piastri has pulled out a second on Russell so is safe from DRS. The key time is the one between Norris and Verstappen.
Verstappen got past Tsunoda and Fernando Alonso.
Lights out! Piastri away well, Russell, Norris to the first corner but Verstappen moves up to fourth.
Martin Brundle is worried by gravel: there’s a lot of it about and it could threaten the medium tyres.
Formation lap time.
We have 19 laps of the longest circuit in F1, David Croft reminds us.
The countdown is on.
One point in Verstappen’s favour: his teammate Yuki Tsunoda is ahead of him by one place. He is unlikely to mess with Red Bull’s main man.
Sky interviewing Sky now: Gary Neville is with Mercedes.
Karun Chandhok is jumping ahead to 2026, interviewing Adrian Newey about his stepping up to Aston Martin team principal.
There are only 16 cars on the grid. It was another bad qualifying for Lewis Hamilton: after coming 20th and last in Las Vegas, leading to an eighth-place finish in the grand prix, he failed to make it out of Q1 again on Friday. Ferrari have consequently made changes to his setup and so he will start from the pit lane.
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and the Alpine duo of Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto are all doing likewise.
“We take the learning for tomorrow,” says Isack Hadjar, 11th on the grid. There will be a lot of that.
It’s not all about the drivers’ title: McLaren have run away with the constructors’ gong but Mercedes, with a 40-point lead over Red Bull, will be hoping to seal second place this weekend. Russell can help them achieve that from second place, and Kimi Antonelli will start just behind Verstappen.
Piastri won that day – as he did last year, too. McLaren’s Australian is going for a hat-trick.
Right, just over 20 minutes to go till the sprint race gets under way. Barring disaster, it’s greatest value is as an indication of what is to come, rather than significant in its own right, with only eight points available to the winner. Mind you, second place here was enough for Verstappen to become champion two years ago:
Preamble
Philip will be here shortly to take you through today’s sprint race (2pm GMT) and qualifying (6pm).
