Philip is about to begin to take you through today's sprint race (2pm GMT) and grid-setting session (18:00 GMT).
The formation lap has begun.
We have 19 laps around the lengthiest track in Formula One, the commentator points out.
The final countdown is underway.
An advantage in Verstappen's advantage: his teammate Tsunoda is ahead of him by a single position. It's improbable to challenge Red Bull's main man.
Sky's internal discussion now: the analyst is at the Mercedes team.
The analyst is jumping ahead to 2026, speaking with the engineer about his promotion to Aston Martin team principal.
Just 16 cars on the grid. This followed another poor grid-setting session for Lewis Hamilton: after coming 20th and last in the previous race, resulting in an eighth-place finish in the main race, he failed to make it out of the first qualifying segment again on Friday. The team have as a result made changes to his car configuration and so he will start from the pit lane.
Aston Martin's Lance Stroll and the Alpine pair of Pierre Gasly and Colapinto are all starting from the same position.
"We'll use the learning for the next day," says Isack Hadjar, 11th on the grid. There will be plenty of learning.
The focus isn't solely on the individual championship: McLaren have run away with the constructors' gong but the team, with a 40-point lead over their rivals, will be hoping to seal second place this weekend. Russell can assist in this goal from the front row, and Kimi Antonelli will start just behind the leader.
Oscar Piastri won that day – as he managed last year, too. The driver from McLaren is going for a hat-trick.
Alright, approximately 20 minutes to go till the sprint race gets under way. Unless something goes wrong, it's greatest value is as an indication of what is to come, instead of highly important in its itself, with just eight championship points awarded to the winner. Mind you, second place in this race was enough for Verstappen to become champion two years ago.
The driver claimed F1 world title after Pérez crashes out of Qatar GP sprint race.
A seasoned gambling analyst with over a decade of experience in casino gaming and slot machine strategy development.
