{'I could have killed them' - Lawson experiences near miss with Formula 1 track officials
Formula 1 competitor Liam Lawson disclosed he narrowly avoided a potentially fatal collision during Sunday's Mexico City Grand Prix when a pair of track officials crossed the track immediately ahead of his car
The alarming incident occurred on the third lap when marshals were observed on the track as Lawson was rejoining the race following an early pitstop to swap his broken nose section
Competitor's Live Reaction
Shortly afterward, the team's competitor Lawson radioed to his pit wall engineer saying: "You've got to be joking? Did you witness that? I nearly... ended their lives"
"I genuinely couldn't process what I was observing"
"I came out on a fresh hard compound tires, and then I approached Turn One and there were just two guys running across the track"
"I came close to striking one of them, honestly, it was incredibly risky"
Safety Concerns Raised
"Evidently there's been a communication breakdown somewhere but I've never experienced that before, and I can't recall observing that in the past. It's absolutely inexcusable"
"We fail to grasp how on a ongoing race track safety personnel can be authorized to just dash across the track in such a way. I don't understand the reason, I'm sure we'll get some kind of clarification, but it really can't happen again"
Formal Inquiry in Progress
The sport's regulatory authority, the FIA, is thoroughly reviewing the events
"Subsequent to a first corner event, race control was advised that fragments were located on the track at the critical section of that bend" commented the governing body
"On lap three, marshals were notified and placed on standby to enter the track and recover the debris once every vehicle had gone by"
"As soon as it became apparent that Lawson had pitted, the directives to deploy officials were rescinded and a double yellow flag was displayed in that section"
"The examination is ongoing what happened following that moment"
