Korea’s first F1 event in 12 years was a chaotic, messy spectacle

Fans gather up to meet Formula One racing driver Valtteri Bottas on Sunday at the Peaches Run Universe 2025 show run event in Yongin, Gyeonggi. [PEACHES]

 
Formula One (F1) racing driver Valtteri Bottas, who returned to Korea for the first time in 12 years for a special show run, said there is no reason F1 can’t be held in Korea again. However, while thousands of Korean fans are ready for F1 races in Seoul, both the circuit and organization are less prepared for such a motorsport event.
 
Hosted by the car culture and automobile lifestyle brand Peaches, Sunday’s Peaches Run Universe 2025 was not an official F1 event — merely a run that invited the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, its former Finnish racing driver and a 2022-season Mercedes F1 race car for a few spins at the Everland Speedway in Yongin, Gyeonggi. But it was the closest thing we’ve gotten to hearing the loud roars of an F1 engine in the country since the Korean Grand Prix was held back in 2013 in South Jeolla. 
 
 
Korea’s interest in F1 is nothing like it was back then. The Netflix show “Formula 1: Drive to Survive” (2019 -), the film “F1” and Coupang offering live F1 broadcasts with Korean commentary all mean that there are more fans of the motorsport in the country than ever. The audience in Sunday’s event was more diverse than ever as well — young kids with their parents, female fans in F1 uniforms and men with big cameras all came to Yongin to see the run.
 

Formula One racing driver Valtteri Bottas does a doughnut in a Mercedes-AMG F1 W13 E Performance racing car on Sunday at the Peaches Run Universe 2025 show run event in Yongin, Gyeonggi. [PEACHES]

 
But having visited Sunday’s event not as a member of the press but of the public — and as someone interested in motorsports — the transportation in and out of the circuit and poor crowd management and organization were too glaring to gloss over.
 
The Everland Speedway is only 50 kilometers (31 miles) away from Seoul, making it the closest professional race circuit to the capital city. But the transportation was lackluster for anyone not driving directly to the circuit. Despite the organizers offering a paid shuttle service to and back from the circuit, the most popular bus route to Speedway — the 5002 bus that links Gangnam, southern Seoul, to Everland — was packed with F1 fans from 9 a.m., two hours before the opening.
 

People queued for many hours before entering the Yongin Speedway to see the Peaches Run Universe 2025 show run event in Yongin, Gyeonggi on Sunday. [CHO YONG-JUN]

 
The situation only got worse when a minimum of 30,000 people tried to get into the circuit. There weren’t enough staff members to control the massive crowd, and they also did not seem to know what they should be doing. When I asked a staff member if I was in the right line, he just replied, “Yeah, that’s probably right.” The early-bird ticket holders, who were promised they could enter the stadium an hour early, ended up mixed with normal ticket holders, just standing in line without really knowing if they were even in the correct one.
 
The uncontrolled queue — with others cutting in line here and there — meant it took me over two hours just to get into the stadium. Some fans even gave up on entering the circuit, putting camping chairs outside to enjoy the view from there.
 
Everything was more controlled inside the Speedway, but there were still long and confusing lines of people trying to queue for food trucks and other events. And while allowing the fans to watch the show run inside the circuit — near the apex — was a good idea in principle because it offered fans great views, there was no proper seating, and it did not look completely safe. One motorcycle even slid and crashed into the barrier, injuring four members of the audience, an accident which could have been fatal due to the thin barrier that separated the audience from the track itself. 
 

Crowd checks out the Ford GT at the Peaches Run Universe 2025 show run event in Yongin, Gyeonggi on Sunday. [CHO YONG-JUN]

 
Nevertheless, it was thrilling and exciting to see an F1 vehicle roaring across the Everland Speedway. Despite its V6 engine, it was more than enough to echo the entire raceway and excite the fans.
 

Formula One racing driver Valtteri Bottas drives the Mercedes-AMG F1 W13 E Performance racing car on Sunday at the Peaches. Run Universe 2025 show run event in Yongin, Gyeonggi. [PEACHES]

 
There were also other sights inside the circuit, namely supercar and classic car exhibitions, from a rare 1999 Benetton B199 machine — likely formerly owned by the late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee — brought from the nearby Samsung Transportation Museum, to the Ferrari Testarossa and hypercars like the Bugatti Chiron and Ferrari SF90.
 

Benetton B199 Formula One racing car is parked at the Peaches Run Universe 2025 show run event in Yongin, Gyeonggi on Sunday. [CHO YONG-JUN]

 
Notably, Kim Sung-hwan, a classic car collector who owns The One Classic Car & Cafe, was there. Kim had brought over 10 of his collection to the scene, ranging from a classic Porsche 911 cabriolet to the Mercedes G Wagen and Hudson Super Six.
 
“I think the fact that classic cars were invited to a motorsport event like this shows that the car culture in Korea has matured over the years,” Kim said. Ironically, as soon as Kim completed his sentence, one of the crowd members opened the door of a Mercedes and tried to sit in it without permission.
 
“There’s still some way to go,” he said.
 

A classic Porsche 911 roadster is driven around at the Peaches Run Universe 2025 show run event in Yongin, Gyeonggi on Sunday. [CHO YONG-JUN]

 
Similar sentiments were echoed on X, formerly Twitter, where fans were seen ranting about the poor organization and lack of management. At the same time, praising how good an experience it was to watch an F1 vehicle race through the circuit with their own eyes.
 
“It was great to see and hear the F1 car with my own eyes and ears,” Kim Seung-hyeon, a high schooler who came all the way from Daejeon to attend the event, said. Kim had to catch a train at 7 a.m. to Seoul Station, only to spend two or so more hours on a bus to the Yongin Speedway Circuit.
 
“But this was tough. I just hope they open a better circuit elsewhere and have it organized by someone other than Peaches,” he said.
 

The Mercedes-AMG F1 W13 E Performance racing car is parked at a pit lane on Sunday at the Peaches Run Universe 2025 show run event in Yongin, Gyeonggi. [CHO YONG-JUN]

The Mercedes-AMG F1 W13 E Performance racing car is parked at a pit lane on Sunday at the Peaches Run Universe 2025 show run event in Yongin, Gyeonggi. [CHO YONG-JUN]

Formula One racing driver Valtteri Bottas is being driven around in a classic Mercedes on Sunday at the Peaches Run Universe 2025 show run event in Yongin, Gyeonggi. [PEACHES]

BY CHO YONG-JUN [[email protected]]