F1 Singapore Grand Prix Sprint Qualifying: Start time, TV channel and how to watch live

The sixth and final Sprint qualifying session of the F1 2026 season takes centre stage later today (Friday October 9) as the Singapore Grand Prix ramps up into top gear.

Vital championship points are on offer over the next 36 hours as the title contenders do battle over the shorter race distance via the Sprint format.

A 44-minute qualifying session today is followed by the Sprint race proper tomorrow (Saturday October 10) over 100km. That race will last around 30 minutes.

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Mercedes prodigy Kimi Antonelli has an 84-point lead in the title race heading into the weekend and is a red-hot favourite to become the youngest ever F1 world champion.

He is likely to face a real test from a resurgent Max Verstappen this weekend, after the Red Bull star followed up his terrific P2 in Azerbaijan with his first race victory of 2026 at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.

Today's Sprint Qualifying session will set the grid for Saturday's Sprint race, and we have all the details of when the session starts and how to watch live. Wherever you are in the world.

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Singapore Grand Prix Sprint Qualifying start time

Sprint Qualifying for the F1 2026 Singapore Grand Prix takes place today (Friday October 9) at 8.30pm local time. That is 1.30pm in the UK or 8.30am Eastern in the US.

Find the sprint qualifying start time converted to your local time zone below:

Singapore Grand Prix 2026 Session Times

Sprint Qualifying - October 9, 2026

TV channels and live stream details

Broadcast details vary depending on your location. There is great news as we said for anybody who has access to Viaplay TV:

Where to watch: F1 2026 broadcasters by region

* - A free seven-day trial of Apple TV is available for fans in the US, allowing them to watch F1 for free this weekend.

F1TV Pro also carries coverage of the sport, depending on which territory you are in.

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How does Sprint Qualifying work?

The Sprint Qualifying session operates in the same way conventional qualifying does - split into three segments. They are slightly shorter though than normal Saturday qualifying sessions.

As with normal Qualifying, the six cars with the slowest times are eliminated after SQ1, and then six more after SQ2. That leaves the remaining 10 to battle for pole in the SQ3 shootout.

As for the actual Sprint race, the first eight drivers to finish score points with the winner claiming eight, down to one for the eighth-place finisher.

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Written by

Graham Shaw - Consultant Editor

Digital sports leader with 30 years of senior level experience running global brands. Built sportinglife.com to be a behemoth in the UK as well as being in charge of the Planet Sport network of sites including planetf1.com, football365.com, teamtalk.com and planetrugby.com. Then grew goal.com to be the world's biggest soccer website in 18 languages and 37 territories. Was GM of Portals for Perform Group (now DAZN) with overall responsibility for sportingnews.com, spox.de and voetbalzone.nl.

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