🏁

MONACO

Seungwan leans back against the sofa, eyes peeking at all the cameras that are pointed towards her and the person sitting right beside her. 'Bunch of idiots'  She smirks to herself and crosses her legs. The marketing team of Formula One thought they did something with this press conference arrangement, putting her and Joohyun at the same conference after their verbal exchange in Baku was something she could see from miles away, only an idiot would think it was a coincidence.

She is glad though that the press decided to ask the driver's representative of the other team the questions before they start bothering them about that heated exchange a couple of weeks ago. She can feel the older girl squirming beside her, fidgeting with her fingers and just being uncomfortable like she doesn't want to be there and she feels the same.

“Question for both Joohyun and Seungwan,” putting her Red Bull can to the side she lifts her mic and waits for the reporter to ask his question, “Thoughts on that verbal exchange after the race in Baku?”

She holds back a snort and slightly shakes her head, proud that she called it in her head. “This is a heated sport. After the race drivers are full of adrenaline and in the spur of the moment things happen. It was nothing but a conversation between two frustrated drivers,” the older girl answers and puts her mic down. 

The reporter looks at her, waiting to hear her side as well, “Nothing more to add,” she brushes off the question and grabs her Red Bull drink, waiting for the next question.

“Looking at the previous race weekend do you guys think you walked out with fewer championship points than you expected?” It's the second question about Baku and she's already fed up with it. 

“I mean if you are not standing at the top of the podium by the end of a race week then you are always walking out of it with fewer points than expected. I do feel frustrated about missing out because that was supposed to be a win but I can't keep revisiting the same thing again and again so the focus is fully on this race now,” she throws her head back once she answers and looks to her side to see the other four drivers talking among themselves.

Her former teammate shifts and sits up before she grabs her mic, “You guys have lots of footage from Baku. I don't think I need to elaborate about the frustrations of a driver when they don't get what they set their eyes on,” she answers and puts her mic down with a thud.

Fifteen minutes and four questions later, she is more than ready to just walk out of the conference with some time to spare because it's so obvious that these reporters are purposely looking for stories that'll earn them clicks on their articles. Six questions about that fight in Baku and they still want to get more out of her, it's annoying at this point.

“We have seen some racing from you two in all four races so far but Baku was your first wheel-to-wheel encounter, obviously it didn't go that well. Can we expect something similar if you two end up in the front row again?”

“Ridiculous! Can we stop this already? We have had so many questions about the same thing asked in different ways. It's ing annoying, mate. Just stop asking about it, we are racers, we race hard and collide all the time—I don't know why it's such a huge ing deal now, just no more questions about that,” The outburst is not impulsive, it's calculated and it's more than deserved. 

“Okay. Joohyun anything to add,” the answer comes up with a single shake of head motioning a 'no' before the reporters shift their attention back to the drivers of the other team.

She makes it known that she's annoyed and she doesn't feel any reason to be afraid, the reporters had it coming anyway. She sits there with her arms crossed and eyes glaring down at every camera that's pointed her way, counting it as her way of annoying them back.

The rest of the three questions are about the car's reliability and the updates they are bringing for Monaco before they are allowed to continue with their paddock duties before they head back to their hotels.

She's in the hospitality room, getting something to drink for herself when Joohyun turns to her, there is a troubled expression resting on her face as she crooks her eyebrows. Her former teammate opens but shuts it immediately before she walks to where she is, keeping a distance between them while she grabs a serving of fruit salad.

“You are going to be in trouble for that, Seungwan,” she puts down the bottle of orange juice back on the table and leans back against the wall, hands back in her pocket, clutching the fabric tightly. There is confusion on her face, wondering why Joohyun would even bother to talk to her when she clearly doesn't want to be anywhere near her.

“Do I look like I care?” Scratching her jaw, she answers. Joohyun's breath hitches, feeling the bitterness in her tone. The older girl probably feels taken aback upon witnessing a version of her without any filters and restraints.

“Right,” the sound of Joohyun opening the box follows after, which gives her the impression that their conversation is over so she takes a step forward and grabs her bottle of juice. “How much did you lie back there?” They are next to each other with their faces facing the opposite way when the question escapes from Joohyun's tongue.

She grits her teeth, knowing exactly what the older girl is referring to but it's the nerve to ask that question that makes her blood boil. After all that happened, does she even have the right to question what's a lie and what's not, “Shouldn't I be asking that?”

Both of them turn their faces at the same time until their fronts are inches away from each other, their eyes briefly indulging in a stare-off, either of them refusing to back down. Seungwan scans all of Joohyun's face, not because she wants to but because it's there—her jaw is clenched, making it appear much sharper than it already is, her brown eyes are unreadable and the only thing she can see is a hint of anger in them, there is a lump forming in that disappears as soon as the older girl realises that it's there.

“That's what I thought,” she walks past her, nudging her shoulder, “You should be the last person to be worried about a damn lie,” her steps are heavy and filled with anger as she stops at the door and turns around, “Am I right Joohyun?”

The distance between them was much larger compared to what it was moments ago, she wasn't sure if her senses were betraying her or not but for a moment she felt as if a look of hurt flashed in Joohyun's eyes but she could be wrong, it's Joohyun after all. Something rings in her ears, a voice, but she pays no attention to it and walks away.

🏁

“You said it was a small little condo,” through a loud exclaim, her rookie teammate lets her know that she's very much in shock upon seeing her two-million-dollar condo in Monaco.

“It is,” she mutters as they finish the tour of her living space and ends their tour in the living room of the condo.

“Three rooms out of which two have their own small balcony, walk-in closet, bathrooms that could pass as bedrooms, a huge kitchen not to mention a living room that can easily become a cinema whenever you want and then a huge balcony with a mini pool—” resting her hands against her hips, the rookie catches her breaths “—that is not small.”

Pretending that she's deaf so she won't hear Minjeong singsong about her condo they make their way down a small hallway that leads to the guest room where the rookie would be staying for the Monaco Grand Prix, they stop outside her racing sim room that catches the attention of the younger girl and before she knows the rookie is already gawking at the pictures on the wall.

She stands there allowing the latter to look at her pictures from her career before Formula One, most of them are just holding her first-place trophies. It used to be so common, being on the top step of the podium until it became rare and all she could do was hold the runners-up trophy and look at the top step with longing.

They don't stay there for long and make it to the guest room that's at the end of the hallway. She opens the door to the guest room and looks at the bed to make sure that there are enough pillows and duvets for the rookie. “If you need anything just get it,” the younger girl was supposed to stay along with the team in one of the hotels but she was more than welcome to let her stay in her condo since it's fairly big to just accommodate one person.

After bidding the rookie goodnight and making herself some tea to soothe herself, she walks to the other side of the condo where her room is. She sits on her balcony looking at Circuit de Monaco, the preparations are done and it is going to be used for the free practice starting tomorrow. 

Monaco is the heritage of motorsports. It's the history of Formula One, out of all races on the calendar it's one of the oldest one, winning here is considered an achievement in itself.

People think that drivers would live to drive there and fight for that win, and she doesn't blame them she thought like that too during her first Monaco Grand Prix, but it's quite the opposite. First and foremost it's a street circuit, a pain in itself, then comes its complex layout that makes the race a game of pole and pit stops, not one driver on the grid is a fan of hairpin turn and the pool chicane is a pain in the .

One of the biggest criticisms she has heard regarding this sport is that it's just a bunch of cars driving in circles, as much as she hates it, she might agree with it when it comes to Monaco, just seventy-eight laps of driving around the same track waiting for the dreaded race to end.

That aside, she wouldn't lie, she's excited for this year's race. She has seen numerous drivers win the Monaco Grand Prix but nothing compares to the Red Bull drivers winning in the Monte Carlo circuit and taking a dive into that historical pool, she wants to be a part of the history too.

They are bringing updates for Monaco and the engineers back in the factory have reassured her that the car won't have any more reliability issues and it'll be even quicker than the Mercedes at certain circuits, their words are reassuring but still, she isn't the one to take such things for granted, especially after those heartbreaks in Bahrain and Australia, it's better to be careful.

“It's all fine, arguments happen between drivers all the time.” 

'Nothing is fine between us.'

🏁

It's the end of Q2 as both the Red Bull cars smoothly make their way inside the top 10 and prepare themselves for Q3. Seungwan, despite not being able to communicate with her teammate, can just see the dread in her eyes and she understands because she wants nothing but this qualifying to be over as soon as possible.

“Is there something wrong with the Mercedes set-up?” The mechanics holding onto the tire blankets ask her as they see the former world champion only managing a P8 to go through the Q2. She raises her shoulder and points to the screen showing the second Mercedes driver being P4, it doesn't take long for the mechanics to notice before they nod, “Must be the driver then,” which makes her chuckle.

“The Q3 for the Monaco Grand Prix is underway! We have already witnessed some unusual eliminations resulting in Aston Martin, Haas and Alpha Tauri getting into the Q3. We have twelve minutes to find out the rest of the grid for the race tomorrow and here we go.”

The thing that constantly irks her during her banker lap is the lack of speed, she just can't openly accelerate on the circuit how she usually prefers. It's an extremely narrow circuit with no room, so to keep the car from kissing the barriers, the speed has to be sacrificed. Down turn five, she can see the infamous hairpin turns six and seven of the Monte Carlo circuit. 

Next comes up the tunnel and just like other drivers, it's her favourite part of the circuit. The compromise they made on speed gives them a little return favour through the slight curve that's just so pleasing to drive through but the happiness is only short-lived as she slows down near the pool chicane, and makes turn ten and eleven before entering the third and most difficult sector of Monte Carlo circuit.

It is said the further away you are from the walls, the safer you are in Formula One but for sector three of the Monte Carlo circuit, it's the opposite. The track walls are the driver's best friends, get as close as you can to these walls, and make sure your car is millimetres away from the wall, just like Jeddah but the difference is that the latter is a really fast circuit while the former is slower.

“The first round of laps are done and it's looking like another pole for Kang Seulgi's Ferrari with the Red Bull of Son Seungwan five-tenths of a second down. It seems like her Red Bull teammate is struggling, only managing a time that puts her P9 on the grid. The same can be said for the Mercedes of Bae Joohyun, she's P7 while her teammate is currently P4.”

She knows exactly that she lost those tenths on turn sixteen as she goes out of the pits into the track again with three minutes remaining in Q3 to start her out-lap along with most of the cars. By the time she crosses her line half of the starting grid has already been decided but the Ferrari is still on the provisional pole with Kang Seulgi going through the middle sector of the track.

“Bae Joohyun seems to be struggling and she's pulling out from her lap attempt and is going to start tomorrow's race P8. Son Seungwan has set a purple first sector, her teammate is improving on the time and so is the Mercedes of Yoo Jimin. It's the Ferrari that has gone into the wall at turn sixteen! The yellow flag is out and that ruins the pole charge for Son Seungwan as well as the others who were improving out on the track, such an anticlimactic end to this qualifying. Kang Seulgi stays on the pole, Son Seungwan joins her on the front row for tomorrow's race.”

“ off!” She slaps the halo in frustration upon hearing about the crash, “I am telling it was the lap. That was a ing pole!”

“There is nothing we can do,” Sana sighs through the radio. “We'll get them tomorrow,” she reassures.

She's angry and she makes it known throughout the post-qualifying interviews and the conference, by the time she's changed into her casual clothes, a simple knitted sweater, some beige pants and her glasses, it comes to her attention that her teammate is more bummed than her.

She approaches her teammate, beside her is sitting her longtime rival, probably trying to cheer her up too, “Told you Monaco is ,” she shrugs and grabs her teammate by her hoodie making her stand up. “Lunch?”

Minjeong pouts and then nods, she nods to herself before she turns around as they match toward the driver's parking lot, a thought strikes her and she turns around to see Minjeong bidding goodbye to Jimin, “Rookie,” she calls out and both of the girls crane their necks to looks at her, “You wanna join?” Jimin looks around and then points at herself asking if that was directed towards her, she merely nods.

“I don't want to intrude,” Jimin trails off and scratches the back of her neck.

“Get your friend in the backseat, can you do that or do you need advice for that too?” Directing her gaze toward her teammate, she asks as she shows the keys to her Porsche to both of them.

“Teammate orders," Minjeong shrugs and links her arms with Jimin, dragging her to the parking lot.

It's a ten-minute drive from the circuit to the restaurant Seungwan brings them to. It's not that hard to figure out that the older girl is a regular at the place by the reception she gets from the staff and management. That's how they find themselves sitting across each other by the seaside on separate tables, Minjeong didn't understand that but soon she did.

“She's quite popular isn't she?” Jimin mutters munching on the sandwich that was brought by Seungwan's black card. 

“She is young, pretty and rich. Of course, she's popular," Minjeong affirms. The Red Bull rookie sips on her orange juice, getting front-row seats to witness her teammate get cornered on her table with fans swarming her. 

“Aren't you jealous?” Jimins asks and takes another bite from her sandwich.

Minjeong chuckles and shakes her head in a 'no'. Her teammate is so used to that, it takes her only a couple of minutes to give autographs and take pictures before she's left alone on her table once again. She is more than thankful that her teammates get much more attention than her, “Trust me you don't want to get mobbed! You haven't seen the swarm of fans outside her condo.”

Jimin nods and opens , asking for a piece of steak to which Minjeong compiles and shoves the meat in the older girl's mouth. “She doesn't have friends on the grid like others. I barely see her with other drivers apart from the press conferences,” the Mercedes rookie points out.

“She's much younger than others,” Minjeong leans back and rests her head on the back of her chair, calculating the age difference of other veterans on the grid compared to her teammate, “She was the only rookie in her season until our batch came along. Those before her know each other and drivers who came after her are already accustomed to each other, so she is there in the middle…all alone,” saying that makes her chest hurt a little because it makes her realise that her teammate had no one besides her previous teammate in the tough world of Formula One.

To put things into perspective, the Golden Girl of Formula One joined the sport just a month after she had turned eighteen. She was a Formula Three and Formula Two champion in her teenage years. Out of twenty-four karting championships, she was the champion in twenty-one of those. The second youngest driver behind her at that time was the current Ferrari driver Park Chaeyoung who was driving for Sauber at the age of twenty-three. Her Mercedes teammate, the four-time world champion at that time, was a one-time world champion at the age of twenty-five.

“You are telling me she was eighteen operating a Formula One car around those who were five years older than her!” Jimin widens her eyes and steals a glance from the Red Bull driver who is peacefully enjoying her pastry.

“No wonder everyone compares her to Max Verstappen,” Minjeong nods to herself and finishes up her last piece of steak and leans forward to grab her glass of orange juice.

“Does she talk about her experience in Mercedes?” Jimin asks and it hits Minjeong that no one dares to mention the older girl's previous team in front of her, nor does the older girl ever talk about her previous team.

She shakes her head in a no and it sparks some curiosity inside her, being awkward on the podium with her former teammate, not being on talking terms with her previous team and that fight during the Baku Grand Prix has to mean something, “Does anyone from your team do?”

Jimin looks up, her lips forming a pout as she thinks for a moment, “I have seen the mechanics ta