{'I could have killed them' - Lawson experiences close call with F1 marshals
Formula 1 competitor Liam Lawson stated he narrowly avoided a potentially fatal incident during Sunday's Mexican Grand Prix when a pair of track officials crossed the track directly in front of him
The alarming incident happened on the third circuit when safety workers were observed on the track as Lawson was returning to the race following an early pitstop to swap his compromised front wing
Driver's Immediate Reaction
Shortly afterward, the team's competitor Lawson spoke to his race engineer saying: "You've got to be joking? Did you just see that? I nearly... ended their lives"
"I genuinely couldn't process what I was observing"
"I rejoined with a fresh hard compound tires, and then I arrived at Turn One and unexpectedly appeared two guys dashing across the track"
"I came close to striking one of them, honestly, it was extremely hazardous"
Safety Concerns Raised
"Obviously there's been a failure in communication somewhere but I've never experienced that before, and I haven't previously witnessed that in the past. It's absolutely inexcusable"
"We can't understand how on a live track marshals can be authorized to just run across the track like that. I have no idea why, I'm certain we'll get some form of reasoning, but it really can't happen again"
Official Investigation Underway
F1's overseeing organization, the International Automobile Federation (FIA), is thoroughly reviewing the circumstances
"Following a turn one incident, race control was advised that debris was present on the track at the apex of that corner" commented the regulatory authority
"During the third lap, safety personnel were alerted and put on alert to go onto the racing surface and recover the debris once all cars had passed"
"As soon as it became apparent that Lawson had pitted, the directives to deploy personnel were rescinded and a double yellow flag was displayed in that section"
"Our inquiry continues what happened following that moment"
