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The end of the campaign can't come soon enough for Ferrari, who failed to pick up any points from the final sprint of the year.

Lewis Hamilton, fresh off the back of qualifying last in Sin City a week ago, qualified P18 on Friday, started from the pit lane on Saturday and finally crossed the line in 17th place, just ahead of the Alpine of Pierre Gasly.

Speaking to the media after the sprint, the seven-time world champion said Gasly came up to him and commented: "Yo, you look so bad!", to which Hamilton replied: "Yeah, no ****, Sherlock."

Team-mate Charles Leclerc, who struggled throughout and finished 13th, was equally unimpressed with his car's performance, saying it was "incredibly difficult to drive" and that he didn't have an explanation for it.

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Max Verstappen made up two places from his sprint starting position of sixth but he has to produce a flawless rest of the weekend to stay in the hunt for a fifth consecutive title. The Dutchman must beat Lando Norris tomorrow to take the fight down to the wire in Abu Dhabi next weekend.

Will his car be up to the challenge, though? That's the million dollar question for Red Bull. Verstappen looked quick in the opening laps but was soon back on the radio to feedback more bouncing, jumping and understeer in the long corners on the gritty Qatar track, "that's still a big problem," he added.

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This sprint race in Qatar wasn't the action-packed event like the previous outings (it was a bit rubbish) but Oscar Piastri won't mind. The Australian controlled the shorter dash from pole positon to put himself back on a winning foot for the first time since Zandvoort at the end of August.

Piastri, who has a hat-trick of sprint wins in Doha, said it's been a smooth weekend so far and he "just needs to keep it rolling" for the fight for pole, which he hasn't been on for a main grand prix since that day in the Netherlands three months ago.

Countback is our friend in this scenario.

Should Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen end up tied on points, then the person with the most wins overall is champion. If they are tied on wins, then it is the most second place finishes.

As things stand, Norris and Piastri are level on race wins, with seven each. 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.

If you would like to ask a question to the Ask Me Anything team, send it through using the link here.

Lando Norris has taken the past three pole positions in Mexico, Brazil and Las Vegas, so can he bank a fourth consecutive front-row spot in Qatar tonight?

Oscar Piastri has shown his one-lap pace already this weekend but most drivers had a few twitches here and there during sprint qualifying and the race.

Hit the 'Get Involved' button and let us know your predictions - any surprises you can see in store for the penultimate qualifying of the season?

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Lando Norris' first opportunity to become a maiden F1 world champion is during Sunday's Qatar Grand Prix.

The McLaren driver will be crowned this season's winner if he triumphs in tomorrow's 57-lap race, regardless of where Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen finish.

If he doesn't claim victory, he will need to outscore team-mate Piastri by four points to be sure of the title this weekend.

If he fails to score any points in Doha, and either Piastri or Verstappen take the win, the finale in Abu Dhabi would see Norris three points behind Piastri or level with four-time title winner Verstappen.

Third place in the sprint isn't the end of the world for title leader Lando Norris, as he goes into today's qualifying session 22 points clear of Oscar Piastri and 25 points - a full race victory - free of third-placed Max Verstappen with 50 points remaining.

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Lorraine McKenna
BBC Sport Journalist

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Hello again, folks. The sprint shenanigans are over for another year and now it's time to reset and prepare for tonight's qualifying session at the Lusail circuit.

Q1 gets under way at 18:00 GMT.

Oscar Piastri triumphed from pole position in the 19-lap race earlier on, beating Mercedes' George Russell and his McLaren team-mate Lando Norris to the maximum eight points.

The Australian's victory has cut Norris' championship lead by two points heading into tomorrow's crucial main grand prix.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent

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Oscar Piastri cut McLaren team-mate Lando Norris' championship lead by two points with victory in the sprint race at the Qatar Grand Prix.

The Australian led an uneventful race from start to finish as Norris trailed home behind Mercedes' George Russell, the top three finishing in the order in which they started.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen moved up from sixth on the grid to finish fourth, losing one point to Norris in the championship.

Norris now leads Piastri by 22 points and Verstappen by 25 heading into Sunday's grand prix.

If Norris wins the grand prix, he will be champion. If either Piastri or Verstappen does, then the battle will go to the final race in Abu Dhabi next weekend.

Read the full report here

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The title momentum is still with championship leader Lando Norris but Oscar Piastri could be making a very late bid for success with his victory in the 19-lap sprint race.

Teams - feel free to make any set-up changes to your cars, as the focus now turns to qualifying for Sunday's 57-lap grand prix.

We'll park the bus here, so go and get yourselves some refreshments and come back and join us for build-up at 17:30 GMT.

Q1 goes green at 18:00.

See you shortly!

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Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who finishes fourth in the sprint: "It has been difficult so far. The start was good and the first few laps I just pushed a bit more compared to the guys ahead to try and have an opportunity knowing that passing was tough.

"After that you just get into the same trouble and the more the tyres wear, the more you feel those kind of issues. I was basically just doing my own race out there."

Lewis Hamilton ended his last sprint event of the year in 17th place and he had a message for Ferrari on the team radio after the race: "Man, don't know how we've made the car worse."

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Championship leader Lando Norris, who finishes the sprint race in third: "I tried to go forwards and we got pretty close at the start, but it was good. I didn't see what happened behind, it felt like a long stint and lots of pushing.

"It's going to be a tough race tomorrow but it's not easy to pass around here, so it's all about qualifying."

On qualifying later on: "George [Russell] was almost on pole so he's showing that the Mercedes is quick and he's doing a very very good job.

"I think it will be close, I don't think it's going to be an easy one but the team have also given us a very good car once again as they always do this year.

"It has been quick, it's a hell of a lap around here in qualifying so I'm looking forward to it."

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Mercedes' George Russell, who finished second at the Qatar sprint race: "It was a good race, good to get P2. We obviously know that these guys [McLarens] are really quick. But those last two laps were a real struggle. This track is so quick. It's one of the fun tracks to drive and it's obviously brutal on the tyres, on the car so glad to bring it home."

On the physicality of the Qatar track: "It is pretty brutal. I don't know what the g force is, it was 5G for like forever, around those triple right, but it was really cool its what it should be like everywhere really. Glad we got the chance to race around here."

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McLaren's Oscar Piastri, who wins the sprint in Qatar: It has been a good weekend so far, I think everything went smoothly in the sprint there.

"I'm happy with how it has been so far, I just need to keep it rolling."

On comparisons with the last couple of race weekends: "It's obviously a very different circuit to where we have been, much higher speed, much higher grip.

"I think the last couple of weekends has just been things going wrong rather than a lack of pace so to speak. Here everything has gone smoothly so far and the pace has been strong.

"It's a track I have enjoyed in the past, so enjoying it again clearly."

On qualifying later: "Ideally if we can find more pace, I think everyone slowly finds a little bit more through sprint weekends, so you've got to try and get every bit out of the car as you can.

"We will try our best to do that but I think our pace performance seems very strong around here, so it's more just tuning rather than trying to reinvent the wheel."

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In the constructors' championship, Fernando Alonso lost out a few places during the sprint but his two points at the end are enough to lift Aston Martin back above Haas in the midfield battle by one point.

6. Racing Bulls - 90

7. Aston Martin - 74

8. Haas - 73

9. Sauber - 68

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So, what has the sprint race result done to the drivers' championsip?

Lando Norris' lead has been cut by two points following Oscar Piastri's victory, so now the gap between the two team-mates is 22 points before we go racing in full tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Max Verstappen is now 25 points off Norris and has to finish above the Briton in Sunday's race to stay in the title fight.

1. Lando Norris (McLaren) - 396

2. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) - 374

3. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) - 371

Marc Priestley
Former F1 mechanic on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

Oscar Piastri did everything he could. For the others it has been a bit of a damage limitation exercise.

It will do him a whole world of good for his confidence. I think there will be a slightly different fight when it comes to qualifying.