Abbi Pulling
F1 Academy champion on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

The two Ferraris have made a brilliant start. Charles Leclerc has gone up to seventh place and Lewis Hamilton up to eighth.

Lewis Hamilton has roared up the pack and has gone from 11th to eighth, one place behind his Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc. DRS is now enabled and Kimi Antonelli is trying to catch the McLaren of Lando Norris, but the Briton is the quickest man on track at the moment.

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Oliver Bearman has dropped down the order after that contact with Liam Lawson. Kimi Antonelli has held on to second place and is keeping tight to championship leader Lando Norris. Oscar Piastri is third, George Russell fourth and Max Verstappen, after overtaking Fernando Alonso, is fifth.

Abbi Pulling
F1 Academy champion on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

Lots of jostling there but actually pretty tidy, especially in these conditions.

The sprint is go!

It's a clean getaway by Lando Norris and the McLaren driver leads the field from pole position! Max Verstappen has already picked off Fernando Alonso and is up to fifth place.

Oliver Bearman, meanwhile, has been tagged by the Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson!

Lando Norris is in position, so too is Kimi Antonelli. Who will lead heading into Turn One? We're about to find out...

Abbi Pulling
F1 Academy champion on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

Oscar Piastri is going to have to navigate his way through starting third and will be hoping Lando Norris makes a mistake because the momentum Lando has got is unmatched at the moment.

Max Verstappen is a soft runner, along with Charles Leclerc and Isack Hadjar in the top 10. Fernando Alonso, starting ahead of the Dutchman in fifth, will charge off the line on a set of mediums.

Abbi Pulling
F1 Academy champion on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

Max Verstappen is not in the best position. He's surrounded in a busy area and he could tapped or knocked, and that could be detrimental to his championship fight.

Williams' Carlos Sainz and Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda, who were both eliminated in SQ1 yesterday, are starting from the pit lane for the sprint race after making set-up changes.

So, what tyres have been chosen? Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have gone medium, Kimi Antonelli and his Mercedes team-mate George Russell, who lines up in P4, have opted for the softs. It's yellow and red compounds up and down the grid.

Ian Fergusson
BBC weather forecaster

Air temperature is 22.6C and the track 25.7C.

It's a blustery day after copious rain early this morning; the north-west wind gusting to 25mph in the past hour.

Dry; no showers currently in vicinity. FIA official risk of rain is 30%.

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Harry Benjamin, F1 Academy champion Abbi Pulling and BBC F1 correspondent Andrew Benson are in position and ready to take us through this sprint. Click the 'listen live' tab at the top of the page to tune in.

If you want to send us your thoughts during the sprint, hit the yellow 'Get Involved' button at any time.

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Max Verstappen, who starts the sprint in P6, speaking to Sky Sports: "It's slicks, just the final straight is a bit damp but the rest of the track is slicks.

"The car is not where you want it to be so when you can't change the car then not much will feel different today.

"I'm expecting it not to be too easy in this race but let's see, maybe we can make it a bit better for qualifying."

Image source, Getty Images

If you're a sprint newbie, welcome in.

Today's sprint race in Sao Paulo is 24 laps, or 100km, and only the top eight finishers will score points, with first place awarded eight points and eighth place picking up one point. These points will get added to the overall drivers' championship standings.

You won't see cars come in to make a pit stop during the sprint, as these shorter contests are designed to be fast-paced rather than strategy-focused. Once the sprint is complete, teams are then free to make set-up changes for qualifying later on.

There was drama at the start of the Austin sprint last month, when title rivals Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris crashed out at the first corner. With the stakes so high, neither McLaren driver can afford another incident like that.

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri spoke to Sky Sports from the pit lane: "No matter what the conditions are, it's an opportunity. We'll see what we can do, it's going to be interesting, I think."

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Defending world champion Max Verstappen said his Red Bull was undriveable during Friday's running, highlighting "a lot of vibration in the car, a lot of just ride problems" as he qualified sixth for the sprint.

Since the shorter format was introduced in 2021, Verstappen has reigned supreme, winning 13 races in total, including the fourth sprint of the season in Austin.

Whether he can slice his way through the field today like he did during his spectular win at Interlagos last year, we'll have to wait and see, as he has a tough task on his hands from lights out: get past defensive master Fernando Alonso.

Aston Martin have started "on the right foot" in Sao Paulo, said the Spaniard, after a strong showing in sprint qualifying, adding the result was a "boost" for the team. "We are not giving up, and let’s keep trying every day," said the two-time world champion.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent

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Lewis Hamilton was knocked out in the second session and qualified 11th in his Ferrari, his final lap in the second session ruined when team-mate Charles Leclerc spun in front of him out of Turn 10.

Hamilton also faced an investigation for failing to slow sufficiently for the yellow flags waved when Leclerc lost control but was let off with a reprimand, because of the short time a yellow signal was visible to him and the fact he had hesitated before applying the throttle.

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Oscar Piastri has to get past Italian rookie Kimi Antonelli before he can begin his challenge on Lando Norris. The Australian was 34 points clear of his McLaren team-mate after winning the Dutch Grand Prix in August but since then, he's only made the podium once, taking third place at Monza.

Following difficult weekends in Austin and Mexico, Piastri said he "felt much happier" yesterday, adding" "We can definitely fight with what we've got and there are a lot more points on Sunday."

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With a small advatnage in the title fight, a perfect weekend in Sao Paulo would be just the ticket for Lando Norris' maiden championship ambitions. He's ticked off the first job on the to-do list: secure pole for the sprint.

Norris, who beat Kimi Antonelli by 0.097 seconds, said his McLaren has been performing well so far but there are still a few little improvements that can be made for qualifying later on.

As for the sprint, the Briton, who won the shorter race at Interlagos last year, joked: "If I can cruise to victory that would be beautiful."

Cars have headed out for a warm-up lap around Interlagos to assess the the track conditions. The McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri bolted on the mediums, while Franco Colapinto had a set of the intermediate tyres on his Alpine and Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda opted for the softs.