Summary

  • Verstappen wins third F1 drivers' title as Piastri wins sprint

  • Lawson, Sargeant, Perez and Ocon crash out

  • Shootout delayed after safety concerns over tyres

  • Verstappen starts on pole for Sunday's race

  • Sprint format for Lusail, with sprint shoot-out and sprint race on Saturday

  • Get involved #bbcf1

Live Reporting

Lorraine McKenna

  1. Team Radio - Hulkenberg

    "**** They sandwiched me!"

  2. Harry Benjamin
    BBC F1 Commentator

    Perez is looking absolutely demoralised and because Perez is now out of this race, Max Verstappen officially becomes a three-time world champion now matter what happens in this race.

  3. Safety car

    Lap 12/19

    The Red Bull of Sergio Perez tangled with Esteban Ocon's Alpine as Nico Hulkenberg came between the two cars. "They sandwiched me," says the German driver.

    Title race is DONE.

  4. Safety car

    Lap 11/19

    Sergio Perez has crashed out! The Red Bull is in the gravel in the first sector and the safety car is out for a third time.

  5. Lap 11/19

    Oscar Piastri has DRS and overtakes the Mercedes of George Russell! The McLaren is back in his P1 position!

  6. Alex Brundle
    British racing driver and broadcaster on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

    It's a difficult race for Perez who doesn't seem to have the grip at the moment, the soft tyre seems to be clearly the most beneficial tyre at least in this stage of the race, still more than ten laps to go though for that soft tyre to move away. They won't have a whole amount of data of how quickly that's going to happen, they just haven't done the practice laps here, so there's a bit of a finger in the air guess from all of the teams.

  7. Lap 10/19

    The advantage George Russell has is being cut down by the medium tyres of Oscar Piastri in second. The Australian is right behind the Mercedes...

  8. Lap 9/19

    Sergio Perez is down in 10th place, so any thoughts of keeping the title fight alive have pretty much gone out of the window.

    Only 10 laps to go and Oscar Piastri is told by his pit wall the soft runners are starting to struggle...

  9. Lap 8/19

    George Russell has built a 1.6 second gap to the McLaren of Oscar Piastri as Max Verstappen makes ground on the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc. The Red Bull steals fourth place from the Monegasque driver.

  10. Alex Brundle
    British racing driver and broadcaster on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

    Brave stuff from Piastri who refuses to yield and brakes later down to the apex to Turn One.

  11. Lap 7/19

    Fernando Alonso has gained the place back he lost to his old Alpine team-mate Esteban Ocon. The Spaniard is on long main straight and powers through on the Frenchman. Alonso is seventh, Ocon is eighth.

  12. Alex Brundle
    British racing driver and broadcaster on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

    As soon as they get out there's a massive amount of dust flying up, you can see the lights of the circuit shining through the amount of dust that was being kicked up by drivers off line.

  13. Safety car ending

    Lap 6/19

    George Russell is going slowly... slowly... he's gone! The Mercedes man fires away in his Mercedes as the pack chase him down.

    Oscar Piastri is under pressure from the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz. The Australian holds firm but Russell is flying out in front.

  14. Safety car

    Lap 6/19

    Max Verstappen remains in fifth place, so those four points - if he was to finish in that position - will be good enough for his third consecutive F1 trophy.

    Safety car is coming... again.

  15. Get Involved

    #bbcf1

    Andrew Priestley: The aggressive approach from George Russell is paying off so far.

    Matthew Murnaghan: For a sprint, this is very fun!

    Catriona: Given how short sprint races are, I'm starting to think laps under the safety car shouldn't be counted towards the total. At this rate there are going to be nearly as many laps under the safety car as laps raced!

  16. Safety car

    Lap 5/19

    Liam Lawson is watching the action from the Alpha Tauri pit wall after spinning out on the opening lap. Meanwhile, Oscar Piastri is told that the soft tyre-runners could be in trouble soon.

  17. Safety car

    Lap 4/19

    Before the safety car, Fernando Alonso was battling hard with Lando Norris for sixth place. The Spaniard eagerness to pass the McLaren results in Esteban Ocon sneaking through in his Alpine. Lando stays in P6, Esteban takes seventh and Fernando has to settle for eighth place.

  18. Team Radio - Russell

    "Big move, come on!"

  19. Safety car

    Lap 4/19

    There are only 19 laps, fellas! So, George Russell is leading this sprint race from the McLaren of Oscar Piastri on the mediums and the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, who is on the same soft rubber as Russell.

  20. Alex Brundle
    British racing driver and broadcaster on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

    Russell really pouncing there on Piastri, surely a mistake by the Australian driver, he seems to be suddenly in front.