{'I could have killed them' - Lawson encounters near miss with F1 marshals
Formula 1 competitor Liam Lawson stated he narrowly avoided a potentially fatal collision during Sunday's Mexico City Grand Prix when two safety personnel darted across the track immediately ahead of his car
The alarming incident took place on the third circuit when safety workers were observed on the racing surface as Lawson was rejoining the race following an early pitstop to change his damaged front wing
Driver's Immediate Reaction
Immediately after, the team's competitor Lawson communicated to his team engineer saying: "Is this for real? Did you just see that? I might have... taken their lives"
"I genuinely couldn't process what I was witnessing"
"I exited on a new set of hards, and then I approached Turn One and there were just two dudes running across the track"
"I almost collided with one of them, truthfully, it was so dangerous"
Track Safety Questioned
"Obviously there's been a communication breakdown at some point but I've never encountered that before, and I can't recall observing that in the past. It's absolutely inexcusable"
"We cannot comprehend how on a active circuit track officials can be allowed to just run across the track like that. I don't understand the reason, I'm certain we'll get some kind of clarification, but this absolutely cannot recur"
Official Investigation Underway
F1's overseeing organization, the global motorsport federation, is thoroughly reviewing the situation
"Subsequent to a first corner event, the race directors was advised that debris was present on the track at the apex of that corner" declared the FIA
"On lap three, marshals were alerted and made ready to enter the track and remove the wreckage once all cars had passed"
"As soon as it became apparent that Lawson had made a pit stop, the directives to deploy officials were withdrawn and a double yellow flag was displayed in that area"
"We are still investigating what transpired subsequent to that time"
