Qatar Grand Prix – Sprint Race LIVE: Max Verstappen wins his third Drivers’ Championship in a row… with Oscar Piastri winning the Sprint from pole

The Dutchman said ‘I can’t thank you all enough’ on the team radio in the moments immediately after his Drivers’ Championship was confirmed.

1. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)

2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)

3. Lando Norris (McLaren)

4, George Russell (Mercedes)

5. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

6. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)

7. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)

8. Alex Albon (Williams)

Eight points for Piastri, seven for Verstappen, all the way down to Albon, who claims one point for Williams.

Second on the night – and the best in the world for a third year in a row. Max Verstappen takes it on a Saturday night.

But he might not have enough time to catch Piastri to lead

After dealing with one Ferrari, he quickly dealt with Sainz as well, and he’s up from sixth to fourth very quickly.

He gets close enough to Leclerc to take over.

Piastri leads, Russell second, Verstappen third

The cameras following Perez into the pit after his collision.

Could be going green at the end of this lap…

But with Perez not getting any points from this evening, he’s definitely winning a third consecutive Drivers’ Championship, with six races still to go in the season.

The safety car is out.

There’s a collision with Ocon, and they’re both out. Hulkenberg caught up in it too, but he’s raced away.

The pole setter makes full use of DRS to help him get past Russell.

The Dutchman gets past Sainz, and he’s up into third.

Can he catch Piastri or Russell?

Russell’s lead has been reduced to 0.8 seconds.

He’s fighting off the Ferrari of Sainz

Unless there’s a dramatic turnaround, the Championship is only heading the Dutchman’s way…

Piastri has to fight off the two Ferraris behind him.

He’s in the last of the points for the Sprint race.

Sainz in third place.

Lawson and Sargeant both out of this race about a quarter of a way into it.

That’s another safety car.

Very smart timing from Russell to take that lead when he did.

The safety car is barely in and George Russell takes the lead from Piastri!

He needs to be 3rd or its Verstappen’s Drivers’ Championship

Liam Lawson has gone off, and they’ll be forced into this order until that’s resolved.

The Drivers’ Chmapionship is on the line…

Russell second

Almost ready to get going

Leaders going medium, the rest of the pack split between mediums and softs.

This is a fast circuit. It’s going to be hectic.

He has to get up to third to keep things interesting, whatever Max does.

It would be some story if he can’t do it today, but until you get through the race, nothing is certain in F1. Max Verstappen is going into the final stages ahead of the Sprint.

A little under ten minutes to go until everything gets going.

He would have got a top 3 finish in Friday’s qualifying, but his track time was deleted for going off the track. He’s made up for that error today – but what can he do once the racing gets underway?

It was a McLaren 1-2 in the Shootout earlier, and Piasti and Norris will make up the front row of the grid.

Here’s how MailSport’s Jonathan McEvoy explained the drama earlier in Lusail.

This season has been dominated by one driver, and Max Verstappen needs to finish sixth or higher in the Sprint to claim the Drivers’ Championship. He starts in third.

If he fails to achieve this, he could still secure it today if Sergio Perez – the only driver who could mathematically catch the Dutchman – fails to secure six points himself. He starts in eighth place, which would only be worth one point. Perez needs to climb into the top three to have any chance of forcing Verstappen to wait one more day.

I’ll keep you posted on those two as the race goes on.

Hello and welcome to Mail Sport’s live coverage of the Qatar Grand Prix Sprint Race.

Oscar Piastri ended up on pole after the Shootout earlier today, and Lando Norris is second.

All eyes however will be on Max Verstappen in third, who will seal the Drivers’ Championship this evening if he can outperform his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez, who starts eighth. The Dutchman could also do it by just remaining close behind the Mexican.

The race gets underway in Qatar at 8.30pm local time, 6.30pm in the UK, or just over 50 minutes away.