{'I could have killed them' - Lawson experiences near miss with F1 track officials
Formula 1 competitor Liam Lawson revealed he barely escaped a potentially deadly collision during Sunday's Mexican Grand Prix when two safety personnel ran across the track directly in front of him
The concerning event happened on the third circuit when track officials were spotted on the racing surface as Lawson was rejoining the race following an early pitstop to replace his compromised front wing
Racer's Instant Response
Immediately after, the team's competitor Lawson spoke to his team engineer saying: "Is this for real? Did you witness that? I might have... taken their lives"
"I genuinely couldn't process what I was seeing"
"I exited on a brand new hard tyres, and then I arrived at Turn One and suddenly there were two dudes sprinting across the track"
"I came close to striking one of them, honestly, it was so dangerous"
Track Safety Questioned
"Clearly there's been a miscommunication somewhere but This is the first time I've faced that before, and I haven't previously witnessed that in the past. It's absolutely inexcusable"
"We cannot comprehend how on a ongoing race track safety personnel can be allowed to just sprint across the track in that manner. I don't understand the reason, I'm confident we'll get some kind of clarification, but it really can't happen again"
Official Investigation Underway
Formula 1's governing body, the International Automobile Federation (FIA), is thoroughly reviewing the circumstances
"After an occurrence at turn one, the race directors was advised that wreckage remained on the track at the apex of that corner" stated the FIA
"In the third rotation, marshals were informed and put on alert to enter the track and recover the debris once the entire field had cleared the area"
"As soon as it became apparent that Lawson had made a pit stop, the directives to deploy marshals were withdrawn and a safety warning flag was shown in that section"
"The examination is ongoing what transpired after that point"
