Quickly, the warm-up lap for the sprint race began.
Qin Miao was using brand-new soft tires for this race.
With a track temperature of 40°, on top of Monza track's characteristics, tire wear would be severe for this race.
However, Mercedes had full confidence in the durability of Qin Miao's soft tires.
And Qin Miao wasn't the only one to choose soft tires; drivers like Norris, Alonso, and O'Kang also opted for soft tires to start.
Before the race started, almost every team repeatedly reminded their drivers: Position doesn't matter, just bring the car back safely.
The drivers were aware that, compared to today's sprint qualifying, the main race tomorrow was obviously more important.
So most drivers had decided to adopt a conservative approach for this race before it even started.
It's okay not to have a result, but mistakes are unacceptable.
Soon enough, the warm-up lap ended, and all drivers returned to their positions.
The five red lights went out, and the race started.
