Actually, Qin Miao and Hamilton didn't understand either.

If Mick had gone off at turns T8 and T9, then Hamilton and Qin Miao could understand, because the terrain at those turns is relatively low, and there's water accumulation at the apex.

Qin Miao even experienced rear wheel slippage when exiting those turns, losing about 0.1 seconds of speed there.

But now that it has happened, Qin Miao and Hamilton could only exchange wry smiles and then start preparing for tomorrow's race.

On Sunday, Qin Miao arrived on the island early, met many fans, and took time to participate in a half-hour pre-race autograph session.

Then there was a pre-race interview and the drivers' parade.

When Qin Miao returned to his lounge, it was only two hours before the race began.

Since there was still time, Qin Miao decided to fire up his computer to watch the onboard footage of other drivers during the qualifying session.

He also reviewed race footage from previous years on this track.

Because Qin Miao joined F1 at a peculiar time, many tracks were canceled due to the pandemic.

Gilles Villeneuve also stopped hosting from 2019 and only resumed the Grand Prix in 2022 for the same reason.

So for the Gilles Villeneuve Circuit, Qin Miao mostly got familiar with it through the team simulator and games.

Also, Qin Miao didn't know if it was because he won the world championship last year, but his enthusiasm for new tracks was far less than last year.

Last year, having never seen most tracks, he would diligently walk each new track, study every curb and angle, and mentally simulate how to take each corner, curb to curb.

Thinking of this, Qin Miao couldn't help but sigh.

Of course, if other drivers knew that in the time before the race, not only did Qin Miao not need to adjust his state, he even had the time to review footage and lament about his own laziness, they'd likely spit at him.

Have you no shame?

Don't we also want to watch footage and familiarize ourselves with the track before the race? If we don't adjust our state before the race, it's impossible to be in a good competitive condition.

Soon it was time, and Qin Miao put on his racing suit and headed to the track.

For Qin Miao, there was good news today: the biggest favorable condition was there was no rain, the sun was shining, and the track temperature was 43°C, ideal for racing.

After taking track photos, Qin Miao and Zhou Guanyu walked back together.

As they walked, they mostly chatted casually, and Qin Miao didn't cram Zhou Guanyu with last-minute advice.

After all, what Qin Miao knew about the Mercedes car might not suit Zhou Guanyu's Alfa Romeo.

So it was best not to say anything that might confuse Zhou Guanyu.

Returning to his car, Qin Miao and Zhou Guanyu went their separate ways.

Meanwhile, Hamilton was already fully equipped and seated in his car.

Qin Miao stretched his body, did a few stretches, and then fastened his helmet and entered the car.

"Radio check." Frankie began testing the radio after seeing Qin Miao enter the car through the camera.

"I can't hear you, please repeat." Qin Miao joked.

"What?"

Frankie was momentarily stunned and immediately wanted to contact the team's radio technician to check Qin Miao's car.

But Frankie soon realized that Qin Miao was joking.

Otherwise, how would Qin Miao know he was speaking on the radio?

"Haha, very funny." Frankie responded with a forced smile, relieved from his earlier tension.

The chatting ended there.

With Reyes and the others withdrawing, the race was about to begin.

After the formation lap ended, Qin Miao returned to his position.

As he habitually glanced at the cars surrounding him, Qin Miao started waiting for the red lights to come on.

The five red lights lit up one by one.

Then instantly went out.

The race began!

As the race started, Qin Miao's initial speed was even faster than Alonso's.

He quickly pulled up behind Alonso and was alongside Sainz in third.

Because T1 is a left turn, it wasn't favorable for Qin Miao on the outside line.

But with his starting advantage, Qin Miao wasn't pushed out of the side-by-side position by Sainz at this turn.

Coming into T2, it switched to a 180° right-hand hairpin.

This time, Qin Miao was on the inside line.

At this turn, Qin Miao overtook Sainz on the exit by sticking to the inside line.

However, because the trackside was a barrier wall, Qin Miao left only a narrow room for Sainz, letting him just barely stay on track.

The two cars continued to race side-by-side up to T3.

Here, Qin Miao didn't hold back, cutting inside at T3 towards T4, leaving no space for Sainz.

As a result, Sainz cut the apex of T4.

But once back on track, Sainz didn't slow down, remaining side-by-side, just behind Qin Miao's left rear.

Coming out of T4 towards the false corner of T5, Sainz relied on the powerful, though not entirely stable, Ferrari engine to stay close to Qin Miao, further reducing the gap between them.