Round 09
Austria

Warnings: none

Length: 1.1k words

Sunmi’s unblinking eyes stare forward on the run down to Turn 3. Her gaze quickly flies to her left mirror and then her right. Max Verstappen’s Red Bull is there because of course it is. He’s got DRS, and he’s fighting for the win. It’s annoying, but fighting for the lead is a good problem to have. And then there’s an engine blow out.

Something sputters, and Sunmi feels it right away. It’s a sudden change of noise. The 1.6L V6 engine has a quiet purr when it runs normally, but when it fails, it just sounds different. Slamming her foot in the throttle does nothing. And as she loses speed, Max easily passes her on the straight, and Sunmi yells in her helmet.

“Engine’s gone!” Sunmi says on the radio. “What the ? I just lost power!”

“Copy, Sunmi.” Trish’s voice sounds calm, but it’s not doing any calming for Sunmi. “Please pull over to a safe spot on the track. The back of the car is on fire.”

ing great.

Sunmi yells obscenities in her helmet, but she does as she’s told. She drives the car near a track marshal’s post and quickly undoes her seatbelts. The headrest comes off next, and she climbs out of the car in a hurried scuffle because the car is indeed on fire. The warmth of the flames is felt through her race suit and seen in the mirrors. Luckily, the fire marshals react in record time: they come equipped with fire extinguishes and put the fire out before it becomes a great blaze.

Standing by her Porsche RS-2022, Sunmi just looks at it. Its matte-black paint is burnt and peeling from where the flames were. White fire-extinguishing material drips down the wheels and rear wing. For a car capable of wins—and possibly a championship—it’s a sorry sight.

A safety car is called, and Sunmi shakes her head. The marshals are trying to pull her off the track, and she follows them to the service road, but she kicks the metal barriers first.

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ARTICLE

Lee Sunmi was leading the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix when she experienced an engine failure. On Lap 40, the Porsche driver was defending her position from Max Verstappen when the engine of the RS-2022 expired and burst into flames.

Verstappen, driver for Red Bull Racing, went on to win the grand prix. His victory now puts him second in the World Championship standings.

“I’m just heartbroken that it had to happen while I was leading,” Lee said in her post-race interview with SportsNow. “I was so focused on defending against Max. It crushed me when I couldn’t do anything because the engine exploded.”

When asked if she could come back stronger in future races, Lee replied: “I will always try my best, but this is just a massive setback. I scored no points this week, and that means an extra 25 points