{'I could have killed them' - Lawson experiences near miss with F1 track officials
Formula 1 racer Liam Lawson disclosed he barely escaped a potentially fatal collision during Sunday's Mexico City Grand Prix when two marshals crossed the track right in his path
The alarming incident occurred on the third lap when safety workers were observed on the circuit as Lawson was rejoining the race following an premature pit stop to change his damaged front wing
Racer's Instant Response
Immediately after, the Formula 1 racer Lawson communicated to his pit wall engineer saying: "You've got to be joking? Could you believe what happened? I might have... taken their lives"
"I genuinely couldn't process what I was observing"
"I came out on a new set of hards, and then I approached Turn One and suddenly there were two individuals running across the track"
"I came close to striking one of them, truthfully, it was extremely hazardous"
Safety Concerns Raised
"Evidently there's been a miscommunication at some point but I've never experienced that before, and I haven't previously witnessed that in the past. It's pretty unacceptable"
"We cannot comprehend how on a ongoing race track safety personnel can be allowed 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"
Formal Inquiry in Progress
The sport's regulatory authority, the International Automobile Federation (FIA), is actively examining the events
"Following a turn one incident, race control was notified that debris was present on the track at the apex of that corner" commented the governing body
"In the third rotation, marshals were alerted and made ready to go onto the racing surface and clear the fragments once all cars had passed"
"The moment it was realized that Lawson had pitted, the instructions to dispatch officials were canceled and a double yellow flag was shown in that area"
"The examination is ongoing what occurred after that point"
