(Suzuka, Japan. Sunday, 9th October, 2022)
Inside the McLaren garage, things could have been going better for the team, after struggling massively for pace at the beginning of the 2022 season, along with taking the drastic decision to drop their superstar driver Daniel Ricciardo on the basis of his poor form, taking in a rookie to fill the shoes as the team gradually improved from low midfield to a podium contending team entering the final few months of the season.
Although for Kang Hyewon and Kwon Eunbi, the two of them were amazed at the inner workings of the team garage after being invited to the race by the media team because they were relatively well known in Japan for being part of IZ*ONE, the two of them jumped at the opportunity to go to such a well established international event for free.
You on the other hand were busy preparing inside the garage with the car currently sitting on the grid with about twelve minutes to lights out until you bumped into the two Korean women who looked a little bit lost to be honest.
"Hi." You greeted the two of them with your helmet in one hand and your fireproof balaclava in the other. "You guys are with Katie right, from media?"
"Yeah, she invited us to Japan for the weekend from Korea." Hyewon explained. "It's been really great so far, today's the first day we've been in the garage, we were watching from the Paddock Club yesterday."
"I know your names, you've Kwon Eunbi right?" He asked Eunbi who nodded before turning to Hyewon. "I do know you as well, it's Kang something, Hyeme- Hyen- Hye"
"Hyewon." Kang told him while Eunbi just giggled to herself.
"Yes, Hyewon, it just came to me, anyway, how'd you two like my driving from in there?" He asked with a smile. "I'm kidding, but I will be in first by the time we get to turn 1. Count on it."
"Actually, if you guys grab a pair of headphones from the rack over there, you'll be able to listen in to the race communications between me and my engineer." He directed them towards the headphone rack. "I think you get race commentary as well, but I'm not sure, but I really need to go, it was great meeting you two though."
"Good luck!" Eunbi wished him well while Hyewon simply waved him off, still a little peeved about the fact that he knew Eunbi's name but not her own name.
(Fourteen minutes later)
The formation lap was coming to a close, with the final few cars coming to a close, with the cars all around you waiting for the lights to go out. In front of you on the front row was Verstappen and Leclerc, Sainz was to your right, with Perez and Hamilton on the row behind you while your teammate Norris was ninth on the grid.
As the first light came on you engaged the clutch, staring intently and waiting for the rest of the lights to come on, but on the fourth light, the car completely died, engine, electronics, the lot, like someone had just pressed the off button.
"The fucking car just died! Guys! What the fuck?!"
"Copy that, we're checking what happened."
Before you knew it, the lights had gone out and the cars around you began moving, and it was a nigh on miracle that one of the cars at the back hadn't rear ended your car at 100 miles and hour.
Eunbi and Hyewon didn't know what to think, they had never seen anything like it before, a car just dying right before the start of a race, and the radio they were hearing didn't exactly paint a pretty picture of the situation.
"For fucks sake. Somebody could've driven right into me." You complained across the radio to your team.
"Copy, no safety car yet, just double waved yellows on the pit straight for the moment." Your race engineer continued to relay information to you. "Okay, so it looks like a problem with the wheel, can you try resetting the system to see if that works."
