I'm nervous!

Oscar Piastri leads out of the first corner but Max Verstappen has got through on Lando Norris!

Verstappen is up to second and Norris drops to third!

That was not the start championship leader Norris would've wanted on a track that is so difficult to overtake on. Leis Hamilton is up to 14th place already from 17th spot and George Russell has fallen way down the order and is now seventh.

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Cars are in position. Who will be leading this race out of Turn One? We're going to find out shortly...

Marc Priestley
Former F1 mechanic on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

George Russell has looked quick many times across the weekend and a little bit like Max Verstappen, he doesn't have too much to lose here.

He knows that people around him have got to be really quite cautious, especially Lando Norris.

He can absolutely can get himself all the way down into Turn One and he will have his elbows out, just the way that Verstappen will.

For Lando Norris to claim his maiden F1 world championship tonight, he needs to either win the race in Qatar or outscore his polesitter team-mate Oscar Piastri by four points and finish ahead of Max Verstappen.

The top 10 are all starting on the C2 medium compound at the Lusail circuit, while Nico Hulkenberg, lining up in 11th for Sauber, and Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton in 17th have both opted for the soft tyre.

Williams' Alex Albon and Alpine's Franco Colapinto, who is starting from the pit lane, are both starting hard runners for this mandatory two-stopper.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

This grand prix will be defined, at least in part, by the 25-lap limit Pirelli has put on all sets of tyres. That ensures the race will be at least a two-stop strategy for all the drivers.

It also means it will be a race in which drivers push to the limit, at least as much as they ever can.

And the physical demands will be high.

The medium is the optimal race tyre. But all three tyre compounds are potentially useful and strategies with a mix of all three, or just medium and hard, are all in theory within a handful of seconds of each other.

The soft might only last 12 laps or so if it’s chosen for the start. But watch out for excessive wear - the tyres on some cars were already opening up before the end of the 19-lap sprint.Overtaking is tough - the braking zone into Turn One is just 60m.

But that does not necessarily mean the race will be uneventful. The historic chance of a safety car is high at 80%.

A pit stop costs 25 seconds under green-flag conditions, 16 under a safety car.

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If the Qatar and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix end up being filled with chaos and drama leaving the race for the crown is tied on points, this is how our trio of contenders can win it.

In this scenario, the driver with the most wins overall is champion. If they are tied on wins, then it is the most second place finishes.

As things stand, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are level on race wins, with seven each. Max Verstappen has six race wins.

If it comes down to second-place finishes, Norris has the most across this season, which cannot be surpassed by his rivals.

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Red Bull's Max Verstappen, starts in P3, speaking to BBC 5 Live's Jennie Gow: "We know that the start can be quite important, so we will try and have a good start, but at the same time you never know what will happen in a race.

"We have a two-stop and also some things are not in your control, it might be some crazy things that also happen behind you, so you just need to keep everything open."

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McLaren's CEO Zak Brown, speaking to Sky Sports: "I'm ready to go racing, I'm excited. It's kind of business as usual, I think if we could walk out of here with it being a papaya race in Abu Dhabi that would be an ideal result.

"So we finish where we started, that would be a great result having Oscar [Piastri] and Lando [Norris] into the final race.

"Lando has slightly different views of what an ideal weekend looks like, but for us we just want to know that we will have a papaya driver out on top.

"That could happen tonight or that could happen in Abu Dhabi, or the worst case scenario it might not happen."

On how things have been between the two drivers: "I've been with them all weekend and as soon as they get out of the car they shake hands and they've been looking for each other, it's very authentic.

"They know each others set-up, they know each others strategy, they know what our goals are. Our goal is to win the race and to have papaya to win the championship.

"If that's one car tonight or two that go down fighting for it in Abu Dhabi, we just want to have a papaya car up front."

Marc Priestley
Former F1 mechanic on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

There is quite a high probability of a safety car here because this circuit bites you and we've seen all weekend drivers making mistakes, so that is another element in this mix.

Image source, Reuters

McLaren's Oscar Piastri starts on pole: "I feel good, it's been a good weekend so far.

"Obviously starting from pole is the best place to be so hopefully we can have a good night, it's an interesting race with the tyre limits, so let's see what happens."

On the championship battle: "[I feel] relatively optimistic, starting from pole gives me the best chance of that and just trying to get a good start is going to be important.

"If I can do that then I feel like my chances are pretty good, but there's a lot to happen tonight."

Marc Priestley
Former F1 mechanic on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

Lando Norris has got the most to lose and that will be on his mind, but on the flip side of that he's also got the comfort of not needing to win this grand prix.

The downside of that is he wants to get it done, he's a racing driver and he won't want this to roll on another week.

He's got to get a good start, he's on the dirtier side of the race track, a slight disadvantage as the lights go out, but it's going to be very very close.

Image source, Getty Images

What of Ferrari this weekend? Only Charles Leclerc is starting in the points today - and even then it's P10 - after another bruising qualifying session for the Italian team.

Lewis Hamilton followed his Q1 knockout in Las Vegas with another early bath in Qatar. The seven-time world champion is starting at the back of the field in 17th place, sandwiched between the Haas of Esteban Ocon and the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll.

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Ferrari failed to pick up points in the sprint and Hamilton said Alpine's Pierre Gasly commented afterwards the car looks "so bad". Leclerc, who had a big spin in Q3, echoed those words, saying the car has been "extremely difficult to drive" this weekend.

Hamilton is sixth in the drivers' championship and if he comes away empty handed from Qatar and rookie Kimi Antonelli finishes in his P5 starting position, there'll be just two points separating the pair before the last race in Abu Dhabi.

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Will George Russell play a part in the title fight in Qatar? The Mercedes driver is starting in fourth spot having finished second in yesterday's sprint race, splitting the two McLarens, and two places higher than Red Bull's Max Verstappen.

Russell is guaranteed to finish fourth in the drivers' championship this year and he's also trying to seal second place for Mercedes in the constructors' standings. He said it was "annoying" to miss out on third "by such a small margin" but the goal for the weekend is to get P2 for the Silver Arrows. Both Russell and team-mate Kimi Antonelli are starting in the top five in Doha - the Italian rookie claimed fifth yesterday.

Martin Brundle on Sky Sports has got the pick of the famous faces to chat to the Qatar grid. Security try and stop him speaking to tennis great Novak Djokovic but Martin has been around too long to be denied a minute or two with a guest of F1.

Gordon Ramsay thinks Lando Norris is "100%" going to be crowned champion tonight.

Time to for the national anthem.

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Image source, Getty Images

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Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Marc Priestley
Former F1 mechanic on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

It's been nothing short of perfect for Oscar Piastri this weekend. It's exactly what he needed to do and you could easily argue that he should have been doing this for the last five or six rounds.

He's got one job left and that is to get off the line well, through Turn One and control this race and win it.

Image source, Getty Images

Zak Brown thinks Max Verstappen is the Formula 1 equivalent of Halloween's Michael Myers or Nightmare on Elm Street's Freddy Krueger. "He is like that guy in the horror movie who you think is down and then suddenly it's, 'where did he come from?!'" said the McLaren boss.

From being 104 points down in the title fight in September, the Dutchman is now back in with a shout of a fifth championship in a row, an achievement which would see him match seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, after making the podium - and taking four victories - since F1 returned from its summer break.

His Red Bull this weekend, though, has not provided Verstappen with a smooth ride, as his radio messages have been full of feedback concerning bouncing throughout the lap at Lusail. Still, he's put himself third on the today's grid, sharing a row with George Russell's Mercedes.