Sunday, the race day has arrived.

Most fans in the arena today are here to support Alonso and Sainz, so most are wearing either Ferrari team uniforms or Alpine team uniforms.

After all, this is the home ground for the two drivers.

Qin Miao wasn't surprised by this.

For the pre-race parade, the FIA still used regular trucks to carry the drivers.

However, during the parade, Leclerc was full of spirit when chatting with Qin Miao.

Qin Miao could tell from Leclerc's state that he had ample confidence in the track, though it doesn't mean Leclerc would definitely win the race. Still, Qin Miao felt that Ferrari's upgrades this week were effective, well-suited for this track and Leclerc's driving style; otherwise, he wouldn't be so confident.

However, Qin Miao didn't regret leaving Ferrari, knowing that last season, staying with Ferrari wouldn't have led him to a world championship.

Moreover, Mercedes is undergoing drastic reforms internally.

Mercedes might catch up eventually.

After the pre-race parade, Qin Miao did some final preparations before heading to the track.

Qin Miao would start the race from second position today.

He felt he had a chance to maintain this position.

At least at the Catalonia track, the pressure of defending against Verstappen wasn't too immense, provided the opponent's upgraded car wasn't strong enough to easily overtake him from the outside line in corners.

Once all pre-race preparations were completed, Qin Miao donned his gear and got into the car.

During the preparation phase, due to the strong sunshine, Reyes stuck an umbrella into Qin Miao's cockpit and went off to handle other tasks.

Feeling bored, Qin Miao tilted his head against the seat cushion to rest his eyes.

Qin Miao didn't know that the broadcast had just focused on him at that moment.

Many people saw his posture and thought he had fallen asleep out of boredom at the track.

The commentators at Five-Star Sports joked about Qin Miao seeing this.

After all, starting in second place, the commentators believed Qin Miao wouldn't face much pressure today.

His situation wouldn't be like the start of the season, where he couldn't bring back any podium finishes.

Indeed, as Qin Miao rested his eyes, he was thinking about maintaining the second place, while the Five-Star Sports commentators hoped he would bring back a podium finish.

Soon, with the track cleared of all personnel, the formation lap began.

Unlike Leclerc ahead and Verstappen behind, Qin Miao started today's race on medium tires.

In the race start, besides the two Mercedes drivers, all others used soft tires.

Why Hamilton started on medium tires might need speculation and judgment, but on a track surely requiring two stops, many teams already guessed Qin Miao's strategy upon seeing his medium tires.

He planned to run the entire race with only one stop, like last week's Miami Grand Prix.

Seeing Qin Miao's choice, many drivers, especially those behind Qin Miao, felt troubled.

Because with his one-stop strategy, Qin Miao's overall race pace wasn't much slower. But with one less stop, Qin Miao would have a 18-second advantage over them.

The most infuriating part is that this is Qin Miao's unique technique, impossible for them to copy.

Even when asked, Qin Miao remained tight-lipped.

Moreover, from the telemetry data he shared, other drivers, engineers, or coaches couldn't find any distinguishing features compared to others.

Such things made it quite frustrating.

Soon, the formation lap ended, and the drivers parked at their positions.

After parking his car, Qin Miao placed most of his attention on Verstappen to his left rear.

Fans have actually compiled that Qin Miao has the fastest average reaction time in the arena.

His average reaction speed from lights out to start is around 0.20 seconds.

Thus, Qin Miao rarely lost positions in the start phase.

However, today's start made Qin Miao somewhat nervous.

Given he was on medium tires and Verstappen behind him was on soft tires, even if he reacted quickly, he was at a disadvantage.

If he lost his second position at the start, Verstappen would quickly widen the time gap due to Red Bull's advantage through the race.

This meant defending against Verstappen wouldn't be possible for the entire race.

These thoughts made Qin Miao slightly tense.

With the medical car in place, and the green flags waving behind.