It has triggered a change to track limits at Turn 12-13 and an additional 10-minute practice session at 2pm BST, which has delayed the start of sprint qualifying to 2:20pm BST.
The sprint race is still scheduled to start at 6:30pm BST.
Meanwhile, Sainz is worried about a misfire issue in his Ferrari, which he instructs the team to fix or else he will lose third position. The team believes it was a surge issue and considers changing a setting.
Alonso actually lost a place on that restart skirmish. After going wheel to wheel with Norris, he was then ambushed by Ocon who pulls off a superb move around the outside.
The American's run of difficult races continues, and this certainly won't help his cause to keep his seat for next year - with the team pledging it will make its decision only at the end of the season. It certainly will help the soft tyre runners however, as they will get to once again cool their rubber.
Immediately Alonso pressurises Norris and the two go wheel-to-wheel, but as the Brit holds on the other McLaren loses the lead as Piastri goes wide and cedes position to Russell.
Sainz ran very wide into Turn 3, which allowed Leclerc alongside him into Turn 4 but the Singapore GP winner ran his team-mate wide over the kerbs to firmly keep hold of his position.
Lawson is out of the car after his visit to the gravel. The replays show his car simply swapped ends on him, a tankslapper spitting him into the gravel.
The soft tyres certainly had their desired effect at the start for Russell and the Ferraris then, with Sainz briefly going three-wide with Russell and Norris into Turn 1. Norris then was mugged into Turn 2 by Verstappen, as the Ferraris scrapped tooth and nail ahead.
Remember, the distance is 19 laps and there are no mandatory pitstops in the sprint race. Piastri, Norris and Verstappen are all on medium tyres. Who will get to the flag first? Nearly time to find out.
Will this be the race we see Max Verstappen match the world championship tally of Jack Brabham, Jackie Stewart, Nicki Lauda, Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna? Remember, he only needs to finish sixth to be crowned for a third time and become the first driver ever to become champion following a sprint race.
As drivers clamber into their cockpits, we await to see what tyre compounds they will have chosen. In this heat, you'd anticipate a soft would be a stretch.
In what could be his last F1 race weekend for a little while, with Daniel Ricciardo expected back soon, Liam Lawson lines up 14th for AlphaTauri ahead of Zhou Guanyu and Lance Stroll. Alex Albon, Yuki Tsunoda, Kevin Magnussen and Logan Sargeant round out the grid.
Hamilton won the inaugural Qatar Grand Prix in 2021, but he'll face a tough ask to get among the sharp end in the sprint from 12th after he too fell victim to a track limits infringement. At least the Mercedes racer has got a crumb of familiarity from 2021 to hold onto tonight, as his old team-mate Bottas starts alongside him for Alfa Romeo.
Behind the all-McLaren front row of Piastri and Norris, Verstappen and Russell share row two ahead of the Ferraris of Sainz and Leclerc. Then it's Hulkenberg, who beats Perez to seventh, while Alonso was a high profile victim of track limits in qualifying and will start ninth ahead of Alpine team-mates Ocon and Gasly.
For those weather fans among you, air temperatures are 31.9 °C while track temperatures stand at 36.0 °C. Chance of rain, as you'd expect, is non-existent.
Now that we've got all of that preamble about tyres out of the way, who do we think will be making an impression in the sprint? At least after all of the talk about track limits during qualifying (which saw both McLarens docked their best times in Q3) and the sprint shootout, the focus on that will be reduced somewhat. We daren't say completely though...
F1 has been in something of a luxury position in recent times where it hasn't had to worry too much about tyres becoming a source of problems, as it was infamously during the build-up to the 2005 US Grand Prix at Indianapolis. Here's how Pirelli discovered F1's biggest tyre drama since that fateful day when just six cars took the start: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/how-pirelli-discovered-f1s-biggest-tyre-drama-since-the-2005-us-gp/10529831/
Pirelli has stated that the tyre separation problems only showed up under microscopic examination. The issue has only shown up in tyres that have completed more than 20 laps, so motorsport boss Mario Isola has said he is confident there will be no issues for the 19-lap sprint race.
It was discovered by F1's tyre supplier that sidewalls were being damaged against the kerbs, with a statement issued by the FIA suggesting that this problem could lead to air loss if the tyres were used too much. It is thought that the problem was triggered by new kerbs introduced for this weekend which were not present for the last running of the Qatar GP in 2021.
The cars are lined up on the grid under the floodlights in Losail. We've got this far without mentioning tyres, but they could prove a factor in the race after a bombshell announcement earlier from Pirelli.
Will that knowledge impact at all the way Verstappen races this evening? Somehow, we doubt that very much. McLaren certainly can't count on Verstappen switching to cruise and collect mode.
Of course, for either to win, it will mean they have to get the better of champion elect Max Verstappen. The Red Bull man starts third, with George Russell alongside. Just three points from the sprint race (which means finishing sixth or higher) will secure Verstappen his third world title.
Neither Norris, nor Piastri has ever won a race in F1 before. But if either wins the sprint today, it won't actually register on the official wins tally. Norris has finished second on five occasions, while Piastri scored his first F1 podium with third last time out at Suzuka.
McLaren's superb qualifying show has raised the prospect of one of the papaya cars crossing the finish line first for the first time since Monza 2021, when Daniel Ricciardo enjoyed comfortably his best day with the Woking team. In case you'd forgotten, that was on a sprint race weekend too.
The Australian rookie will be joined on the front row by Lando Norris in a McLaren front row lockout. We believe the last time that happened was at the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix, won by Jenson Button. Piastri was just 11 on that bonkers day in Interlagos when Sebastian Vettel claimed his third world title.
Welcome back to Autosport's live text commentary of track action from Qatar. We're half an hour away from the start of the sprint race, with Oscar Piastri on pole.
With that, we'll take a break ahead of the Qatar sprint race which, all things being well, will start at 6:30pm BST. We'll be back for the pre-sprint build-up and the potential crowning of the 2023 F1 world champion. Go well!
That is McLaren's first front row lockout in F1 since the 2012 Brazilian GP. Granted, it is just for the sprint race rather than the full-fat grand prix, but let's ignore technicalities for the time being.
Behind the top three, Russell beats both Ferraris to fourth, with Hulkenberg an impressive seventh for Haas ahead of Perez, Alonso and Ocon. In fact, neither Alonso or Ocon technically set a lap time in Q3 due to track limit woes.
