Chapter Text
@F1
BREAKING: Yoonchae Jeung to race alongside Sophia Laforteza for Mercedes in 2026
#F1
@Formula2
BREAKING: Yoonchae Jeung graduates to F1 with Mercedes for 2026.
Sooooo proud of her!!
#F2 #RoadToF1
@skxdinolli
I don’t think you guys understand how dominant Yoonchae is in F2, she’s going to kill it on the track. I’m so proud of her 🥹.
@junseokfanatic
For new fans looking to know more about Yoonchae, here’s some facts about her!
She started karting at only seven years old, with her parents backing her the entire way.
Two of her biggest inspirations to continue down this career path, even through her struggles, were Yunjin Huh and Nayoung Lee! She stated how much it inspired her to see other South Koreans in the sport.
Yoonchae raced alongside current Haas driver Ua Shimada a few years ago in F3!
@DanW4sHere
the driver lineup this season 🔥🔥
“Ugh. When are they gonna update those pics? None of us even look like that anymore.”
Megan laid half spread out on a sofa, lazily scrolling through twitter on her laptop. Almost every post was about the up and coming new rookie, Yoonchae Jeung. Which unfortunately pushed away all the posts about her own recent race win, drowning her timeline in news she didn’t care about. She did not care about whatever new ‘prodigy’ Mercedes was coming out with. She actually thought it was pretty stupid to bring a rookie like that into a team with Laforteza as a teammate. She couldn’t begin to imagine the pressure that would come from having a former world champion teammate. Maybe she would have Lara give her a couple pointers.
Megan won the world driver’s championship last year, and with how far ahead she was in the points, it seemed like 2025 would be her year too. Each sequential win only boosted her ego further, which she was fine with. She continued to scroll, only half paying attention to most of the posts she came across. Her absentminded scrolling was interrupted by the sound of the door slamming open, and the loud laughter of her friends that followed. Her eyes flicked over to the three of them, who were all carrying countless shopping bags, before she returned to her laptop.
“Megan!” Adéla dropped her bags to the ground, reaching the sofa with a couple long strides before sitting down right next to her. “I bought you the cutest top, you’ll have to try it.”
“Mhm.” Megan nodded, sitting up a bit to make more room on the sofa. Emily soon joined her on the other side, while Lara stood behind her with her head resting on the back.
“Sooooo…” Lara started, and Megan could already tell she was smiling. “What do you think about that new rookie?”
“Oh yeah, didn’t they announce her for Mercedes this morning?” Emily chimed in. “Yoonchae, right?”
“I don’t really know that much about her.” Megan shrugged.
“Oh come on, you’re looking at tweets about her right now!” Lara gestured towards Megan’s laptop with her hand. She had forgotten that Lara would be easily able to look over her shoulder.
“I literally can’t look at anything else, it’s all my timeline is showing me!”
“Mei, can you look her up?” Emily tapped Megan’s arm, smiling. “We’ve been out all day, we know next to nothing about her.”
“Ugh, fine!”
Megan made an exaggerated display of frustration in her tone with her friends, to which they all giggled at. She turned to her laptop, deciding the best way to learn about the new rookie and what she was like was just to see her. She pulled up tiktok, searching her up and scrolling through videos. The other girls all leaned in, cramming next to each other to get a good view of the videos as they played.
The first video that played must have been filmed some time ago, because Yoonchae had black hair, despite the current blonde she sported in the announcement. She was entering a hotel of sorts, although Megan didn’t recognize the name. There were fans around her, as well as a couple individuals with cameras pointed right at her. The individual filming shouted out to her, something in Korean she assumed, which caused Yoonchae to turn. She saw the camera and shot a blinding smile towards it, before making half a heart shape with her hand and putting it to her cheek. After a moment, she turned back to enter the hotel.
The next video that auto played must have been more recent, since it appeared to be a recent race in her career. It was after a race she had just won, with her exiting her car in the F2 race suit. She immediately ran to members of her crew, leaning over the border to hug them while they all yelled and cheered for her, some of them patting her on the back or on top of her helmet. When she finally broke away from the crew, she turned to the camera that was filming her. She made a heart with her index finger and her thumb, before blowing a kiss to the camera.
“Oh, she’s kinda like those Korean idols!” Adéla pointed at the screen. “You know, the ones who act all sweet for fans.”
“I think it’s sickening.” Megan continued to scroll, skipping past a few videos she had no care for.
“I think it’s kinda cute.” Lara chimed in, which earned her a sharp glare from Megan.
“You’re my teammate, Lara.” Megan turned back to her laptop. “You’re supposed to be on my side.”
The girls continued to watch some clips, occasionally stumbling upon other videos of Yoonchae racing or being spotted out in public. One specific video caught Megan’s attention, though. A video promoting an interview that some guy had done, back a couple years ago when she was still racing in F4. The specific clip was her talking in Korean, which none of the other girls really understood. Megan decided to look up the interview on Youtube, scrolling until she found a thumbnail that matched what she looked like in the video. She turned up the volume as she clicked on it, setting it loud enough for everyone to hear well.
Now that Megan was getting a better look at her, it was fairly obvious how young Yoonchae was in this interview. Maybe fourteen or fifteen if she had to guess. She was still in her suit, with her helmet on the ground next to her chair. To her side, her mother sat in another chair, reaching out to hold her hand. A bit off to the side, the interviewer sat at his own chair, fiddling with a microphone and looking down at a notebook. After a moment, he finally spoke up, smiling at Yoonchae.
“It’s good to talk to you, Yoonchae.”
After the interviewer spoke, Yoonchae looked up at her mother, who leaned over and whispered in her ear. Yoonchae nodded before looking back at the man interviewing her, bowing her head. “저도 만나 뵙게 되어 반갑습니다. (It is a pleasure to meet you, as well.)”
After Yoonchae responded in Korean, her mother translated her words to English for the interviewer to understand. He nodded before continuing to speak to Yoonchae. “You’ve been dominating on the track, completely sweeping the floor with the competition. It’s impressive.”
After her mother translated, Yoonchae smiled, putting a hand to her chest. “감사합니다! 정말 친절하시네요. (Thank you! You are really kind.)”
“So tell me, Yoonchae.” The interviewer looked down at his notebook before continuing. “What got you into racing? What inspired you to drive?”
“어렸을 때, 아빠는 나에게 ‘분노의 질주’ 영화를 틀어주셨다. (When I was little, my dad put on the ‘Fast & Furious’ movies for me.)” Yoonchae recalled. “나는 그 차들이 정말 마음에 들었고, 그 차들이 달리는 속도 또한 좋았다. 나도 직접 그런 차를 몰아보고 싶었다. (I really liked those cars, and I also liked the speed at which they drove. I wanted to drive a car like that myself.)”
“Really? And how did your mom feel about that dream?” The interviewer questioned.
“엄마는 처음에는 꽤 걱정하셨다. (Mom was quite worried at first.)” Yoonchae giggled, covering her mouth with her hand. “하지만 그녀는 결국 그 생각을 받아들였다. (But eventually she accepted the idea.)”
“And I’d say worried is an understatement.” Yoonchae’s mother added after her translation, to which the interviewer laughed at.
The interviewer flipped a page in his notebook before continuing. “Yoonchae, what pushed you and your family to move to the States?”
“아버지께는 저와 똑같은 취미를 가진 자녀를 둔 친구분이 한 분 계셨습니다. (My father had a friend who had a child with the exact same interest as me.)” She fiddled with her sleeves, swinging her feet in the air as she spoke. “그들이 미국으로 이주했기 때문에, 아버지는 우리도 똑같이 해야 한다고 생각하셨다. (Because they moved to the United States, my dad thought that we should do the same.)”
“I see. So he was the one who made the decision?”
Yoonchae nodded her head, her brunette hair waving slightly. “네. 하지만 우리 모두는 그것이 좋은 생각이라고 생각했습니다. (Yes. But we all thought it was a good idea.)”
“Next question, Yoonchae.” The interviewer continued. “Did you know that your other competitors refer to you as a ‘monster’ on the track?”
“Ah, uhm…” Yoonchae’s mother hesitated to translate. “Don’t you think that’s mean of them? I don’t want her to be hurt.”
“무슨 얘기를 하는 건가요?! (What are you talking about?!)” Yoonchae turned to her mom, her voice indignant. “알고 싶어! 나한테 숨기지 마! (I want to know! Don’t hide it from me!)”
“Oh, no! Mrs. Jeung, that isn’t my intention.” The interviewer quickly tried to save face, suddenly nervous. “I was just wondering what she thought about it.”
“말해 줘! 말해 줘! (Tell me! Tell me!)” Yoonchae shook her mother’s hand in an attempt to get her to look at her and start translating again.
“자, 진정하세요, 윤채. (Alright, calm down, Yoonchae.)” Her mother reassured her before leaning in to whisper her translation.
After hearing her translation, the young Yoonchae looked down at her lap, her eyebrows furrowed. She pointed at herself, tilting her head at her mother. “괴물? (Monster?)”
Yoonchae’s mother nodded, and the interviewer held his breath. Yoonchae went back to looking down at her lap for a moment, until she started giggling with her hand covering her mouth. Both of the adults in the room let out sighs of relief once they saw Yoonchae seemed to not take any offense from the nickname. After her giggling calmed down, Yoonchae shot a sweet smile at the interviewer.
“정말? 나 같은 사람이, 괴물이라고? (Really? Someone like me, a monster?)” Yoonchae replied, her tone slightly cheeky, batting her eyelashes. “저에 대해 그런 말은 하지 않으시겠죠? (You wouldn’t say things like that about me, would you?)”
“Well, don’t act so innocent now, Yoonchae.” The interviewer shot back, a smug smile on his face. “You nearly drove Bearman off the track earlier today.”
Yoonchae responded with a simple shrug. “그는 내 길을 막고 있었다. 내가 달리 무엇을 할 수 있었겠는가? (He was in my way. What else could I have done?)”
The video stopped suddenly when Lara reached over Megan’s shoulder and pressed the spacebar. “You know who she reminds me of?”
Megan glanced back at Lara, just to see her staring back at her with a wide grin. She knew that look better than anyone. “Lara, I know what you’re gonna say! Don’t you dare—”
“She kinda reminds me of you back when you were karting.”
“Oh my fucking god! No she doesn’t!” The other three girls burst out laughing at Megan’s obvious displeasure at the comparison. Megan slaps Lara on the shoulder, which only prompts her to laugh harder. “I’m nothing like her! You’re being ridiculous!”
“I mean, she’s not really wrong, you know?” Emily had finally managed to calm down enough to speak, wiping a single tear from her eye after her fit of laughter. “That’s kinda exactly how we met, remember?”
Of course Megan remembered.
“What the hell is wrong with your daughter?!”
Before the newly eight year old Megan had even got out of her kart, she had a sense for what was happening. She pulled herself up and raised the visor on her helmet, glancing around until her eyes landed on her father, who was now being yelled at by some random woman she didn’t know. She took off her helmet and left it on the ground next to her kart before going over to him. She stood behind his legs, peeking out at the angry woman in front of them. She had a guess as to who it was.
“Lady, calm down! This is just what happens in races!” Megan’s father crossed his arms, his voice raising in volume as he continued. “Both you and your daughter know the risks! Don’t blame me for that!”
“Is this how you teach her? That running others off is just okay if she feels like it?!” The other woman waved her hand in the air, clearly exasperated. “Emily could’ve gotten hurt! Your daughter needs to apologize.”
“But I’m not sorry.” Megan spoke up from behind her father, which earned her a strong glare from the woman. “She was in my way.”
“Megan, go find something to occupy yourself with.” Her father turned and looked down at her, aimlessly motioning towards somewhere else with his hand. “I can handle this psycho myself.”
“So now I’m a psycho for wanting my kid to be safe?!”
Megan quickly started to leave as her father and the woman got back into their screaming match. She already saw other parents and track officials running over to try and mediate the situation. Megan didn’t want to deal with all that. Once she was far enough away for the screaming to become unintelligible, she looked around. She saw one of the other girls sitting on some grass, and she recognized her as the girl she had run off the track earlier. She slowly approached, standing a couple steps away from her.
“I’m not sorry for running you off the track.”
The girl flinched before turning back, surprised to suddenly see someone behind her. She had bright blonde hair that almost shined in the sun. “You’re not?”
“No. You were in my way.” Megan stated, crossing her arms like her father had done earlier.
“Oh.” The girl looked away and shrugged. “Guess that makes sense.”
The two girls stayed in an awkward silence for a while. Megan glanced back towards the track, where their parents were still fighting, now with a bunch of other people surrounding them trying to mediate. “Your mom’s pretty mad.”
“Yeah. She was scared.” The girl followed Megan’s gaze, letting it land on the growing crowd. “Your dad seems madder.”
“Mhm. Just glad he’s not yelling at me.” Megan walked forward and sat down on the grass as well. She didn’t sit too close to the other girl, but not far enough away so that the conversation was awkward.
“Does he yell at you lots of times?”
“No.” Megan shook her head, poking the ground with her foot. “Usually it’s my mom.”
“I guess your mom and my mom have something in common.” When Megan looked at her confused, she pointed towards the pair. “They both make your dad mad.”
“Guess so.”
The awkward silence filled the space between the two girls again, but before Megan could come up with any ideas on how to fill it, the girl spoke up. “I’m Emily.”
“Megan.”
“Nice to meet you.” Emily paused for a moment. “I think.”
“You think?” Megan raised an eyebrow.
“You kinda ran me off the road. I don’t think that’s very nice.”
“Well!” Megan exclaimed, crossing her arms again and looking away. “I’m not trying to be nice. I’m trying to win.”
“If you get in my way next time, can I run you off the track?” Emily questioned, tilting her head. “I think that’s fair.”
“…Fine. I guess that is fair.”
“Yay!” Emily laughed, which prompted Megan to turn around and look at her. At least she didn’t really hold any super negative feelings against her. She didn’t really want to be hated by anybody.
“Oh, look.” Megan pointed back at the track, where the group of people were finally dispersing. “I think they stopped fighting.”
“Ugh, finally!” Emily stood up from the grass, dusting off her legs and reaching for her helmet. “I wanna go home!”
Megan and Emily both started their walk back to the track, walking in silence as the two went. Megan occasionally glanced over at the girl, her eyebrows furrowed. She didn’t understand Emily all that well. She didn’t understand why Emily would actually want to go home rather than stay at the track, especially after she lost. Wouldn’t her family be upset? Or at least disappointed? Before Megan got the courage to ask, the two had already made it back to their parents. Megan shuffled over to her father while Emily ran to her mom.
“Bye-bye, Megan!” Emily yelled at her, waving her hand in the air.
“Bye, Emily!” Megan smiled before turning back to her father, who was glaring at Emily and her mother.
“God, that bitch is fucking crazy.” Megan’s father grabbed her wrist tight, already beginning to pull her back towards her kart to grab her helmet. She flinched, but didn’t say anything. “You did good out there, Meg. Don’t let her convince you that fighting on the track is wrong.”
Megan turned her head to take a quick glance back at Emily and her mother, the latter checking her daughter for any injuries and speaking to her calmly, before pulling her in for a hug. She quickly turned back to her father and nodded. “Yes, dad.”
“Well, yeah, but it doesn’t mean I’m anything like her, though!” Megan jabbed Emily’s side with her elbow.
“You’re both extremely cocky, I can say that.” Adéla spoke up for the first time in a while.
“I’m a champion! I deserve to be confident!” Megan rolled her eyes, using air quotes to emphasize her point. “She’s just some Mercedes ‘prodigy’ that they’re pushing out to replace Antonelli. I’m not worried.”
“You aren’t? Really?” Lara looked at her with a raised eyebrow. She knew her best friend well. “You’re not scared of the 괴물? (monster?)”
“Did you guys really just come back to harp on this new team reveal?”
“Hey, I didn’t! I actually got you something!” Adéla got up from the couch, darting over to the shopping bags she had left on the floor, searching through them to find whatever she needed.
While her friends went through their shopping bags, Megan couldn’t stop herself from looking back at her laptop. As much as Megan hated to admit it, the young Yoonchae across the screen did remind her of her when she was younger. Cocky and self-centered. Traits that Megan didn’t particularly like to see on other people, but didn’t care about them when they were her own. Maybe that was why she hated the comparison so much. She wondered how Yoonchae actually felt about the monster nickname. There was no way she took pride in it, right? Who would? Before she could spend too much time thinking about it, she slammed her laptop shut and joined Adéla at the shopping bags.
Before they even announced her spot on the team, the Mercedes team wanted to meet Yoonchae properly. A couple of individuals on the engineering team had crossed paths with her before, but overall, not many people knew her personally. They probably had all seen her on the track before. After all, her chance in the second seat had been talked about in secret for months. There was no way that any part of the team wouldn’t have at least looked into her racing style beforehand. It didn’t make her any less nervous to potentially talk to the team, though.
She was plenty good at hiding her nerves, which is why she had a completely blank face as she walked with one of the staff members towards one of the team buildings. Yoonchae was most nervous about meeting Sophia. She had spent years hearing her name, watching her highlights on her screens, admiring the former world champion. She seemed more down to earth compared to most of the other champions before her, but that only scared her more. What if she was nothing like that in person? What if Sophia hated her when they met, leaving Yoonchae in a team with someone who despises her?
“Yoonchae? Are you coming?”
Yoonchae had been so lost in thought that she hadn’t even noticed the pair of them had already made it to the team building. She quickly followed the other team member inside, glancing around as they made their way through. It was a nice building. They occasionally passed by other employees or visitors that were milling about, and Yoonchae noticed how each time she passed, people turned to stare. Of course they would. She was one of the best drivers currently in F2. It would be stupid to not stare at her.
“Sophia’s out right now, but the engineers wanted to meet you.”
Yoonchae glanced over at the employee she was walking with. She hadn’t really even questioned why she was here, or who anyone was. She sort of assumed that this was some random intern, but it really could have been anyone. She should really start paying more attention to her surroundings. The pair eventually ended up in front of a door, with a small placard on the wall next to it that said it was a meeting room.
“They should be in there! Great meeting you.” The intern made a quick turn to leave, before Yoonchae stopped them with a question.
“Are you not coming?” Yoonchae questioned.
“Oh! Uh, no.” The intern turned around, their hands behind their back and a slightly nervous smile on their face. “I don’t…need to talk to them. So I can go. Bye.”
Before Yoonchae could even begin to question the strange behavior, they had already turned around again and walked away, disappearing down another hallway. Yoonchae sighed before turning towards the door again, taking a moment before knocking on the smooth wood. Before she even brought her hand down from the door, a voice from inside reached her ears.
“Come in.”
Yoonchae quickly opened the door in front of her, stepping inside and immediately closing the door behind her. When she got a chance to look around, she realized that it didn’t really look like a meeting room at all. It looked more like a really nice break room. On one side, there was a fridge near a countertop and a small stove. On the other side, there was a small sofa, a coffee table, as well as a couple of soft chairs set up near a large window. Sitting down on two of the chairs were two women Yoonchae had seen before, whether through her television screen or on her phone when checking the news about the sport.
“Oh, yes, there you are.” One of the women stood from her chair and walked toward Yoonchae, taking her hand and shaking it. “It’s good to meet you, Yoonchae. I’m—”
“Missy.” Yoonchae didn’t need to be introduced, she knew who the race engineers were. Who didn’t? She glanced over Missy’s shoulder at the other woman, nodding subtly at her. “Mitra.”
“Oh, good, we can skip introductions.” Missy dropped Yoonchae’s hand, smiling before gesturing towards one of the chairs. “Take a seat. Would you like tea?”
“I guess?”
Missy nodded at Mitra, who got up from her chair and approached the counter, seemingly starting to prepare the tea. Yoonchae and Missy both sat down in respective chairs, and for a moment, they just looked at each other in silence. Yoonchae knew this wasn’t an entirely formal meeting, but she had sort of expected for Missy to look more…like a professional. But she still had her hair up in a messy bun, just like she always did. Surely she could change her hair up for when she was meeting with her future driver, right?
“We are so excited to have you on our team, Yoonchae.” Missy finally broke the silence between the two.
“Likewise.”
Missy smiled at that. “This season, I’ll be working as your race engineer, while Mitra stays with Sophia.”
“I assumed so.”
Mitra had been Sophia’s race engineer for a couple seasons now, occasionally hopping from teams specifically to follow her. Yoonchae had no expectations for that to change. Mitra returned with three mugs of tea, setting two down on the table in front of them, while she kept the other for herself. She sat down as well, although she didn’t really add anything to the conversation. She didn’t need to make as strong of a connection as Missy did. Yoonchae reached for one of the mugs, taking a small sip from it. It wasn’t all that flavorful, but she figured it wouldn’t be a good idea to bring it up to them.
“Right.” Missy paused, finding her words. “Well, I wanted to ask if you needed anything from me as your engineer before the season began.”
“You know my racing style, right?” Yoonchae questioned. “I want to make sure you know how to manage it.”
Missy thought for a moment, looking up as she seemed to recall before smiling. “Yes. Rather aggressive, I think it’s good with the current state of the grid.”
“Have you ever managed a driver with a similar style?” Yoonchae took another sip of her tea.
“Well, sort of. I’ve never—” Missy was interrupted by the sound of her phone ringing. She quickly moved to cancel the call. “My apologies, I didn’t know it was still on.”
Yoonchae wasn’t a fan of the interruption, but she managed to hold her tongue. “It’s alright.”
“As I was saying.” Missy continued after setting her phone down. “I’ve never managed someone who is…quite as aggressive as you. But I assure you that I can—”
Missy was cut off again by her phone ringing a second time, and Yoonchae couldn’t stop herself from rolling her eyes. “I should take this.” Missy picked up her phone and quickly made her way out of the meeting room, already talking quietly before the door closed.
Mitra took over the conversation in Missy’s absence, turning to Yoonchae and finally speaking up for the first time. “Like she said, it’s great to have you on the team.”
“I know.” Yoonchae muttered, slightly annoyed by the constant interruptions. “I was just wondering if—”
“Mitra?” Missy poked her head back into the room, her phone still pressed to her ear.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me.” Yoonchae murmured under her breath, letting out a frustrated sigh.
“We have to go.” Missy continued, avoiding looking at Yoonchae as much as possible. “We’re needed elsewhere.”
Mitra stood from her chair, leaving her mug of tea on the coffee table and already beginning to walk to the door. Yoonchae looked between the two, her exasperation at the situation only growing. “Hey, wait.”
“We’re sorry, Yoonchae. This is more important.” Missy and Mitra both quickly made to leave the room, with Missy lingering back slightly. “Someone else will be with you soon.”
Yoonchae watched as the two women walked out of the room, her eyebrows furrowed. “What the fuck?”
Yoonchae couldn’t begin to imagine what was more important for the engineers than talking to their future driver. She was obviously more important, right? Yoonchae turned away from the door again, staring at the two mugs that Missy and Mitra had just left on the coffee table. They were probably already starting to leave rings on the surface of the wood. Yoonchae gritted her teeth and grabbed the mugs, taking all three of them to a small sink at the counter. She poured out any of the remaining tea and started to wash the mugs, figuring it probably wouldn’t leave a good impression if she left dirty cups in the sink. She dried the mugs before setting them back down on the counter.
Yoonchae glanced back at the door, and still no one had come back for her. She let out a frustrated sigh before returning back to the chairs, taking a seat in one that faced the door. She continued to wait, tapping her foot on the ground as she watched the door, her frustration only growing. She wanted to take out her phone to help pass the time, but she was worried about how she would be perceived if someone high ranking suddenly walked in and saw her on her phone. Would they see her as impatient? She didn’t want to make a bad impression. After what felt like an hour, but was likely only ten minutes, Yoonchae finally heard a knock on the door.
“Come in!”
Yoonchae had expected it might have been Missy and Mitra returning, or maybe another technician that wanted to discuss racing styles. Who Yoonchae hadn’t expected, however, was Sophia Laforteza herself to walk in by herself. Her eyes widened slightly, and she quickly adjusted herself, sitting up a little bit more and straightening out her jacket just slightly. After Sophia closed the door behind her, she glanced around, her eyes landing on Yoonchae and the empty chairs next to her.
“I thought Mitra and Missy said they were joining us?”
“Oh, uh, no.” Yoonchae shook her head, a slight hint of bitterness hidden in her tone. “They were called out for something ‘more important’ than me.”
Sophia raised an eyebrow. “I can’t imagine what’s more important than talking to you right now.”
“That’s what I said!”
Yoonchae’s exclamation earned a loud laugh from Sophia, who made her way towards the younger girl and sat down in a chair next to her. “It’s nice to finally meet you in person, Yoonchae. I’ve loved watching your races.”
“You’ve watched them?”
“Of course.” Sophia smiled brightly, and Yoonchae struggled to determine if it was real, or if it was a really good fake. “I like to watch the other championships when I get the chance.”
Yoonchae shifted in her seat, and although she tried her best to keep a straight face, a hint of a smile started to form at the corners of her mouth. Sophia was a world champion. Not a current world champion, but still. Knowing that someone like her liked to watch her race meant that she must be doing something right.
“Are you excited to be part of the Mercedes team?” Sophia asked with an inquisitive expression.
“Of course!” Yoonchae perked up slightly, although she tried to repress how much joy she showed. She was really struggling to keep up her usually stoic personality. “And I’m really honored that I’ve been offered this seat, especially so early. I didn’t expect to get into Formula 1 so…quickly.”
“Oh, yes, you are quite young, right?” Sophia smiled a little bit brighter. “Not even eighteen yet, if my memory serves me correctly.”
“Oh, uh, yeah…” Yoonchae’s cheeks started to warm up a little from embarrassment. “But I’m gonna be eighteen by then, so…”
“I know, they wouldn’t give you a license if you weren’t.” Sophia sighed, putting a hand on her chin and looking up as she thought. “Unless they wanted to break the rules for you like they did with Skiendiel.”
To get an FIA super license, you needed to be at least eighteen years old by the time of your first Formula 1 competition. Unless, of course, you were Megan Skiendiel. The FIA had bent the rules specifically for her, for whatever reason. She had barely turned seventeen by the time the 2023 grand prix rolled around, but despite that, she was given her super license almost an entire year early. Yoonchae remembered her parents, opponents, and engineers talking about it when it happened. She also remembered the discourse about it. The amount of fans that had differing opinions on her case were astounding. And it wasn’t even like she was the first to do it, either.
Max Verstappen also had his super license issued early, albeit he was almost a hundred days older than Megan. But despite that, many fans criticized her for receiving the exact same treatment. Tons of people believed she couldn’t do it, that there was no way a young girl could possibly handle a car so strong. And whenever her supporters brought up the multiple times she had helped test drive one of the cars, they had to scramble to find a way to excuse their misogyny. Because everybody knew that that’s what it was. Even with a predominantly female grid, the history of the sport being so male centered still showed through the fans of the sport. Just another small price to pay for being a woman.
“Ugh, I wouldn’t want to deal with that.” Yoonchae scoffed and rolled her eyes. “I can’t imagine how annoying that would’ve been for her.”
“Yeah, it was a pretty bad time for her.” Sophia shrugged. “But she was able to prove them wrong. Must’ve felt great.”
“Mhm.”
Yoonchae nodded, looking away and staring off into space for a moment. She wanted to do the same thing. She knew that there would be people telling her that she wouldn’t be able to succeed. People on Twitter already had made theories about her before she even got a chance to be on the grid. Some people thought that Yoonchae wouldn’t fit in at higher levels, and that she should just never make it out of Formula 2. She wanted to prove those guys wrong. She wanted to prove that she was good enough and that she deserved the spot she was going to get. Sophia eventually pulled her out of her thoughts by clearing her throat.
“Do you think you’re ready to race in F1 now?” Sophia inquired, tilting her head.
Yoonchae hesitated for a moment, trying to determine if she should say what she wanted to say or if she should tell the truth. “Should I be honest?”
Sophia giggled, leaning over one of the armrests on her chair. “Well, I hope you’ve been honest with me this whole time.”
“Well…” Yoonchae glanced off to the side, fiddling with the fabric of her sleeves. Admitting the truth sort of scared her, which was strange, because she had never properly feared anything in her life. She had never really been scared of racing before, but now that she was approaching the highest level she could get to, it was starting to worry her.
“I’m kinda nervous. I know I’m an amazing driver, I’m not worried about my skills. I am just…I guess, sort of worried about everyone else. I’ve never really, like, struggled with racing before. My opponents weren’t all that good.”
Yoonchae knew she was rambling at this point, but she couldn’t really stop herself from talking.
“But now I know these people are like, really good. I’m kinda worried I’m not gonna hold up like everyone is expecting me to. I don’t want to let anyone down, I guess.”
Yoonchae finally looked back up, only to see Sophia’s expression had changed from a smile to an almost concerned look. She quickly waved her hand, glancing away. “But it’s not that deep, really. I’m just kinda…”
Before Yoonchae could look back at Sophia, she felt her hand reach over and rest on top of hers, settling her fidgeting down. Her words trailed off after that, ending her thought and letting silence settle back into the meeting room. Yoonchae could definitely feel Sophia’s eyes on her, and she hoped that she couldn’t tell how nervous she actually was. She knew she shouldn’t have said anything, and now that she had, she worried that she would be seen as weak. Which really wouldn’t be good.
“I think you’re going to do amazing, Yoonchae.” The reassuring words from the former champion made Yoonchae turn back. “And we’ll all be there to support you, no matter what happens, ‘kay?”
“I know I’m going to do amazing, you don’t have to remind me.” Yoonchae quickly hid the vulnerability she had briefly shown off earlier, replacing it with her usual cocky demeanor.
Sophia smiled slightly at Yoonchae’s sudden shift in personality, which made her hope that her reassurance had actually helped. Before Sophia could ask her about anything else, Yoonchae heard Sophia’s phone buzz against the chair. Sophia quickly whipped it out, checking whatever notification she had just gotten. For just a moment, Yoonchae was worried that it was going to be another case like when the engineers had left her for something else. Instead, Sophia smiled.
“Mitra said the two of them are gonna be back in like, five minutes.”
“Fucking finally.” Yoonchae muttered under her breath.
“Would you like some tea?” Yoonchae was about to bring up how the engineers had made her tea earlier, and how it wasn’t really that good, but Sophia continued before she could interrupt. “The tea they keep in here isn’t that good, but I brought some of my own.”
“Oh.” Yoonchae was surprised by Sophia’s foresight. “Yes. I would.”
@y0on_cha3
이번 시즌, 메르세데스-AMG 페트로너스 팀을 대표하게 되어 영광입니다. 팀과 함께 성공적인 시즌을 맞이하기를 고대합니다.
It is an honor to represent the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Team this season. I look forward to a successful season with the team.
@sophia_laforteza
Welcome to the team, Yoonchae! I’m thrilled to race alongside you this season!! ❤️❤️❤️
@slutforsophiaz
im new to being a yoonchae fan so i was looking up pics of her and???? this is your guys monster??????
reply: @br0k3n_url
DONT LET HER LOOKS FOOL U shes a demon in that car i swear 😭😭😭😭
@sashadelacorte
this sophia and yoonchae duo is abt to be LETHAL omfg