And away the field goes for the formation lap.

Off come the tyre blankets and everyone is on the medium tyre apart from Nico Hulkenberg, who is on hards.

Rosanna Tennant
5 Live F1 reporter in Qatar

It's quite chilly, we've had this wind blowing across the circuit today but it's starting to die down a bit.

It's going to mean that it's a bit of a challenge for the drivers, it will drop a couple of degrees as we get into the race as well so it's a changing condition to cope with.

Image source, Getty Images

Pole sitter George Russell said before the race: "Pole position is the best place to start, I was really happy with qualifying yesterday in P2 and today is going to be a close race."

On the race: "I really enjoy coming here, the track is one of the best so fast, so high-speed, a lot of are feeling our necks through high-speed corners but it's going to be a long fun race."

Rosanna Tennant
5 Live F1 reporter in Qatar

Speaking to McLaren CEO Zak Brown: "We're ready, we need to keep what we've been doing all year and not change out strategy because we're racing for a championship, we are racing for a win today, one or two ideally.

"It's going to be tough, the top four teams any of them could win so we will see how we get on."

Sam Bird
Formula E driver on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

[On the grid penalty given to Max Verstappen] It's very rare for someone to get a one-place grid penalty in Formula 1. It's fair, the FIA want to clamp down on drivers driving excessively slowly on warm up or preparations laps and that's why I think this penalty was handed down. It's pretty strange that it's one-place.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent

On paper, this is a one-stop race on the medium and hard tyres, but the simplicity of that belies the complexity of the strategic decisions facing the teams. The top four teams all appear to have similar pace, so each team may be having to watch seven other cars in terms of under-cut or extending of stints.

The sprint devolved into a DRS train. But was that only because Lando Norris was measuring his pace to protect Oscar Piastri from George Russell? And the leading cars had inverse tyre life in the sprint - Ferrari had new tyres, Russell’s were used with one lap on them, McLaren’s used with two. Did that flatter Ferrari’s pace?

Despite the fast corners, this is not a race of high tyre degradation, so a team stopping for fresh tyres will not necessarily have a huge pace advantage over someone staying out. At the same time, a headwind on the main straight, in addition to DRS being worth about 0.4sec should make overtaking possible if it’s just two cars running on their own.

A pit stop costs about 26 seconds under green-flag conditions, 13 under safety car. In short, the race may not be a festival of overtaking, but it should be full of tension and intrigue.

Ian Fergusson
BBC weather forecaster

With 15 minutes to race start, air temp is 19.4C & the track 23.3C. Wind from the northwest, with gusts to 17mph in the past hour, but reducing into this evening. Dry; FIA official risk of rain is 0%.

Image source, Getty Images

George Russell, speaking to Sky Sports about Max Verstappen being extra motivated to beat him: "I know he is, he already told me!

"It will be an interesting Turn One. We will see what we can do."

It is now time for the national anthem, which is being performed by the Qatar Music Academy Choir.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, speaking to Sky Sports about the one-place penalty for Max Verstappen: "Not quite sure why we ended up with a one place penalty but if Max needed any extra motivation it has given him it for this. He is wound up for this one."

Jenson Button
Former McLaren driver on Sky Sports

Everyone wants Lewis to finish on a high with Mercedes.

It would be fantastic if he can come away with at least a podium either here or in Abu Dhabi.

Here's what Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said yesterday about Lewis Hamilton qualifying sixth for today's race: "For Lewis this generation of cars aren’t always suiting his driving style, he likes to be aggressive on corner entries and unfortunately this car at the moment can’t quite take it, especially on qualifying laps when it’s right on the edge.

"Lewis in the race, however, usually manages to turn it around like last week where he was overtaking car after car and coming through the pack. We’ll see what the race brings and hopefully we can deliver another good result with both cars for the team."

You can listen to live commentary on this race via this very page, plus through BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, BBC Sounds and smart speakers.

Tune in from 15:45 GMT!

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Lewis Hamilton says he has "still got it" after a disappointing qualifying performance at the Qatar Grand Prix.

Hamilton starts today's race sixth after setting a lap 0.436 seconds slower than team-mate George Russell, who starts from pole.

"Just the car won't go any faster," Hamilton said. "I definitely know I've got it still. It's not a question in my mind."

Hamilton was at a loss to explain why he is struggling to match Russell this year over one lap.

"I'm slow," he said. "I'm half a second off my team-mate in the same car.

"It wasn't a tricky session. My laps were pretty decent, just half a second off.

"I set my car up a little bit different today and honestly the car felt great. It is the first time we have made a set-up change and the car felt good.

"My laps are generally really good and I come across the line and that’s half a second down."

He added: "[I'm] looking forward to the end [of the season]."

The sprint race yesterday showed us Turn One will likely offer the best overtaking opportunities and the way the top 10 is made up suggests we could be in for an exciting race today.

Football celebrities are in the paddock today with ex-Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand and former Liverpool striker Robbie Fowler getting up close and personal with the Red Bull cars.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Here's how it looks in the constructors' championship. McLaren can seal a first title in 26 years today if:

• They outscore Ferrari by 15 points
• Don't concede 23 points to Red Bull