Lap distance: 5.419km. Total distance: 308.611km 2021 pole position: Lewis Hamilton Mercedes One minute 20.827 secondsStart time: 1700GMT/2000 localQatar has a 10-year deal to host Formula One from this year after making a debut in 2021. There was no race in 2022 because of the country hosting the soccer World Cup.
Daytime temperatures are expected to be around 40 degrees Celsius but dropping to 27 at night. First practice and the Sprint shootout will be run in daytime.Max Verstappen is set to take his third world championship this weekend, probably in the Saturday sprint. The Dutch driver, who turned 26 last weekend, needs only three points.
Verstappen would be the first driver to win a title in a Saturday race since Brazilian Nelson Piquet at the 1983 South African Grand Prix.Red Bull have won all three sprint races so far this season -- Perez in Azerbaijan and Verstappen in Austria and Belgium.Verstappen has won 13 of 16 races, his record run of 10 wins in a row ending in Singapore last month.