im here to harrow you.
thinking about f1 minghao crashing out on radioâŠ. idk why⊠its burned in my mindâŠ
crash and burn đ minghao x reader.
â mercedes driver!minghao x reader â word count: 1.8k â includes: profanity, slight Trivia æż: Love reference. â footnotes: oh, you are CRUEL for preying on my hyperfixation like this. how i ended up writing this much is anybody's guess.
For a moment, the entirety of Mercedes falls quiet.
You could hear a pin drop. The pit wall, the operations room, the garage. Deathly silent.Â
Xu Minghao never swore on the radio.Â
He could have. Heâs certainly had his fair share of instances where a cuss or two would have been acceptable. The time he crashed into Williamsâ Vernon on the final lap of the Australian Grand Prix, for example. Or the Singapore race where he ended up in the barriers after battling his teammate, Wonwoo, for podium position.Â
Minghao hadnât cussed then. Everybody liked to joke that his face often did the talking for himâ his expressions post-race landing him on the front page of every sports media outlet.Â
The Chinese racer was calm, cool, and collected under pressure. Critical without being cruel. Demanding without being demeaning.Â
And yet, today, in MonacoâÂ
âWhy do I have the penalty?â Minghao screeches, his voice crackling over the radio. âHello?â
âTrack limits, turn nine,â his race engineer says, voice carefully measured.
âYouâre kidding!â Minghao downshifts aggressively as he rounds the next corner. The tires wail, the car jolts, and the telemetry lights up with data that makes the pit wall wince. âI stayed within the white line! You saw it, everyone saw it!âÂ
The pit wall scrambles. Engineers replay the footage frame by frame, dissecting every pixel of the contentious corner. The commentators speculate wildly, cameras cutting to Minghaoâs onboard view. Sky Sports plays the radio message on repeat, the words for fuckâs sake! echoing through living rooms worldwide.
But Minghao doesn't care about the broadcast. Doesn't care about the headlines already being written. His pulse hammers, hands locked around the steering wheel like a vice.
âBox this lap, Hao. Serve the penalty,â the team calls. âThen push. We can still fight for points.â
Minghao murmurs something incoherent, though it doesnât take a genius to guess that itâs probably another curse. He lifts off the throttle, coasts through the last sector, and dives into the pit lane. The Mercedes crew swarms the car, stoic and efficient, every second ticking down with excruciating slowness.Â
The lollipop stays down.
Ten seconds feel like an eternity.
Minghao slams the throttle as soon as heâs released, launching back onto the track with a cloud of tire smoke.
âGap to P10?â he demands, his tone unusually biting.Â
â7.3 seconds to Boo. But DRS is enabledââÂ
âI can catch him,â Minghao decides on his engineerâs behalf.Â
Nobody doubts it, really.Â
Minghao takes the next lap like a man possessed. Nailing apexes, brushing curbs, deploying battery in the perfect spots. Purple sector times flash on the screen; the crowd roars as he slices through the field like a scalpel.
Clean. Precise. Ruthless.Â
Minghao pushes right past Alpineâs Seungkwan, who screeches into his own radio about this reckless man, trying to kill him with the way he faked to the outside. It doesnât matter to Minghao. Not when heâs through.Â
âP10, Hao,â his engineer says, relief bleeding into his voice. âKeep it up.âÂ
âDonâtââ Minghao cuts himself off. Everybody can more or less guess what he was about to say. Donât tell me what to do, he had planned to snap, and it only drives the team into a deeper state of confusion.Â
Itâs even worse in the press room.Â
Minghao sits in the middle, flanked by Aston Martinâs Seokmin and Red Bullâs Jihoon. Minghaoâs Mercedes suit is still speckled with sweat, and his jaw is tight, hands clasped in front of him on the table.
The moderator introduces them. âWeâll start with questions for the drivers. First, to Mercedesâ Xu Minghao. P9 after serving a 10-second penalty. Can you walk us through your race?âÂ
A muscle in Minghaoâs jaw ticks. Not a good sign.
Minghao leans into the microphone and very simply states, âIt was bullshit.âÂ
Again, that stunned silence. Seokmin balks like he had been physically struck. Jihoon fights back a grin.Â
The moderator blinks. âUh,â she stammers. âCould you elaborate on that?âÂ
âThe penalty,â Minghao says plainly. âIt was bullshit. Iâve seen the footage. I stayed within track limits. And even if I hadnât, we both know there were other drivers exceeding limits all race who didnât get penalized.âÂ
A reporter from BBC Radio pipes up. âYouâve been known for keeping a cool head in difficult situations, but we heard your radio messages. Do you regret your reaction?âÂ
The question draws a humorless laugh from Minghao. Today, his wit is razor-like in its sharpness. The claws are out, so to speak, as Minghao answers the query.Â
âRegret? No. I regret not pushing harder after the penalty. I lost ten seconds and still clawed my way back to points.â He pauses, letting the fact sink in. âWhat does that tell you?â
Somebody from Fox Sports pushes the envelope. âAre you implying bias in the stewarding?â the journalist calls out.Â
Minghaoâs eyes flash, making even the most fearless of the media personnel shrink back a bit.Â
âIâm saying there needs to be consistency,â he hisses. âThatâs all.âÂ
Mercedesâ PR manager shifts uncomfortably in the background; one can assume theyâre already drafting damage control statements in their head. The list of people to apologize to only grows when a ballsy ESPN journo dares to ask, âDo you think this will affect your relationship with the FIA?âÂ
Thereâs no reason for the FIAâ the Formula Oneâs governing bodyâ to be dragged into this. Or maybe there is, with the way Minghao is crashing out in public.Â
The racer smiles coldly. âMaybe,â he answers, âbut Iâm not here to make friends.âÂ
âOkay,â the moderator interjects. âI think itâs time for us to move onââÂ
Minghao concedes, leaning back into his chair and pushing the microphone over to Jihoon. Thereâs the slightest of miscalculations, though, when Minghao grumbles something to the Red Bull driver.
The microphone catches Minghaoâs snide side comment, supposedly meant solely for Jihoonâs ears. âYou should ask the FIA why theyâre so scared of drivers who fight back,â the Chinese driver huffs.Â
The room explodes. Minghao doesnât flinch.Â
Mercedesâ PR manager accepts that itâs going to be a long, long night.Â
Even Wonwoo doesnât have an answer for his co-driverâs uncharacteristic behavior. The driver frowns when the team principal brings it up.Â
Wonwoo runs a hand through his dark, sweat-slicked hair, as if reviewing what he witnessed pre- and post-race. âHao was already a bit⊠off when he came in this morning,â Wonwoo admits. âMaybe he woke up on the wrong side of the bed or something.âÂ
âDrivers like Minghao donât just wake up one morning and decide theyâre going to be the devil reincarnated,â the team principal says tentatively.Â
Wonwoo takes a moment to contemplate. âTrouble in paradise, maybe?âÂ
âDrivers like MinghaoââÂ
âDonât let their personal lives affect their racing,â Wonwoo finishes before waving his hand dismissively. âWell, I donât know, then.âÂ
Exceptâ for onceâ Wonwoo is right.Â
The team doesn't press Minghao to celebrate, not when heâs a walking PR disaster in a foul mood. He heads straight back to his apartment, shedding all his rage on the way home.Â
Itâs the only reason he manages to gently open the front door. He toes off his shoes at the doorway and shrugs off his hoodie, each action deliberate in its intent and slowness.
He finds you in the kitchen.
Youâre seated at one of the bar stools, forearms leaning against the island. Minghao doesnât come close. Not at first. He lingers a couple of steps away, stock still as the two of you lock gazes.Â
You open your mouth. Minghao beats you to the punch line.Â
âI know,â he says, his voice the most gentle itâs been the entire day. âTrust me, I know.âÂ
âI wasnât going to tell you off.âÂ
Minghao lets out a derisive snort of laughter, though heâs quick to look chastised when he catches the shift in your expression. âAlright,â he says tiredly. âWhat were you going to say, then?âÂ
You hop off the stool. Minghao holds his breath.Â
He still feels like he isnât breathing by the time youâre standing right in front of him. Where others might hesitate, you donât.Â
Your hand reaches up to cup Minghaoâs face. Your palm is warm against his cheek, but your words are much warmer.Â
âI was going to apologize,â you say slowly, enunciating each word, âfor breaking rule number three.âÂ
Rule number three. To have it brought up now is comedic. Minghao thinks of the restaurant tissue framed in the living room, the one bearing the silly list the two of you had jotted down when you first started dating.Â
The very rule youâre referring to right now had been in Minghaoâs loopy handwriting, underlined twice to emphasize its importance.Â
#3: No fights on race weekends.Â
It had come with an asterisk, a couple of caveats. Still, it was one of those ârulesâ the two of you tried to see through the most. For not only Minghaoâs sanity, but Mercedesâ as well.Â
Minghao sighs, the tension in his shoulders easing with the heavy exhale. He canât help it; his cheek nuzzles into your palm, seeking the familiarity of your touch after being without it last night.Â
(That was his choice, admittedly, after he opted to sleep in the guest room instead of your shared bedroom. He left in the morning without all of his usual routinesâ his 30-minute guided meditation, his good luck kiss from you.)Â
The fightâ God, what was the fight even about? Minghao is embarrassed to admit he can barely remember.Â
By the way youâre looking at him, though, it looks like youâre also ready to put it past the two of you.Â
âDid you watch?â he asks.Â
The corners of your lips twitch upward. âWhatâs the right answer?â you shoot back, half-teasing as Minghaoâs arms gingerly wrap around your waist.Â
âI think Iâd prefer that you say ânoâ,â he says wryly. âI was a monster out there. Iâve got so many people to apologize to.âÂ
You give a low hum of approval. Minghao tugs you into his space until he can bury his face in the top of your head.
For a moment, the two of you bask in the aftermath. The bittersweet race, the shaky reconciliation. Minghao breaks the silence.Â
âI said fuck,â he mumbles, horrified, âon the radio.âÂ
âYou did,â you confirm. âTwice, actually.âÂ
Minghao groans. âAnd at the press conferenceââÂ
âYou told the FIA they could take it up their aââÂ
âI did not,â your boyfriend says shrilly, âsay that!âÂ
You break out into giggles. Minghao canât help it; his arms tighten around you, and he holds you like heâs trying to erase the past 24 hours through touch alone.Â
Tomorrow, Minghao will be back to his usual self. Heâll play the PR gameâ waxing poetics about mental pressure, apologizing to the FIA for his conduct. Heâll pay the fines and promise to do better, be better.Â
Tonight, Minghao softens all his edges and loves you.Â












