2024 F1 Qatar Grand Prix - Sprint Qualifying - As it happened

He moves into sixth after setting a purple middle sector. Tidy lap.

Leclerc sets the pace with a 1m21.953s, 0.4s ahead of Norris. 

Leclerc improves to a 1m21.953s to extend his advantage. 

It's second and third for Norris and Piastri. They're unable to topple Leclerc's impressive time.

He sets a 1m22.242s to go 0.8s clear of the field. Verstappen only manages fifth. 

He slots into third on the softs, 0.4s down on Sainz's top time.

Albon has just gone quickest in the middle sector. 

Top 10: Sainz, Leclerc, Norris, Gasly, Verstappen, Piastri, Alonso, Russell, Tsunoda and Albon.

He goes 0.3s clear of Leclerc to take top spot. Ferrari's impressive pace in Qatar continues.

A 1m23.419s now for Leclerc, just a tenth ahead of Ferrari teammate Sainz. 

Ferrari weren't expecting a strong weekend in Qatar due to the high-speed nature of the circuit.  But so far least, they've been impressive. 

Hulkenberg slots into ninth for Haas, 1.1s down on Leclerc's top time from earlier. 

Not a lot going on in terms of fast laps, with Red Bull turning their attention to heavy fuel running with Verstappen.

Leclerc, Verstappen, Gasly, Norris, Sainz, Russell, Tsunoda, Albon, Perez and Piastri. 

A strong time from Leclerc on the hards - a 1m23.702s for the Ferrari driver. Verstappen, Norris, Russell and Gasly complete the top five.

Russell, Norris, Leclerc, Bottas, Verstappen, Albon, Gasly, Ocon, Hamilton and Sainz.

Leclerc goes fastest with a 1m25.486s, 0.126s ahead of Verstappen. The two Ferraris and Williamses are on the hards, everyone else is on the mediums.

After some tech issues, we're back to cover the start of FP1!

Tsunoda leads the way currently with a 1m25.970s, 0.3s ahead of Verstappen. 

With Verstappen wrapping up the drivers' title last time out in Vegas, all of the focus is on the constructors.

Here's how it looks between the top three teams heading into Qatar:

McLaren: 608
Ferrari: 584
Red Bull: 555

McLaren can win the constructors' championship this weekend. They need to leave Qatar with a 45-point lead over Ferrari going into Abu Dhabi.

It's a sprint weekend which means this is the format in Qatar:

Friday: FP1 and Sprint Qualifying

Saturday: Sprint and Qualifying

Sunday: Grand Prix

Hello and welcome back to the Crash.net live blog for the F1 Qatar Grand Prix.

There's just two weekends to go in 2024 before the end of the season. It's a sprint weekend which means there's just one practice session ahead of sprint qualifying later today.