{'I could have killed them' - Lawson encounters close call with F1 marshals
Formula 1 competitor Liam Lawson revealed he came dangerously close to 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 rotation when safety workers were seen on the circuit as Lawson was rejoining the race following an quick visit to the pits to change his damaged front wing
Driver's Immediate Reaction
Moments later, the Formula 1 racer Lawson radioed to his pit wall engineer saying: "You've got to be joking? Did you just see that? I could have... killed them"
"I genuinely couldn't process what I was witnessing"
"I rejoined with a new set of hards, and then I got to Turn One and there were just two guys dashing across the track"
"I nearly hit one of them, frankly, it was so dangerous"
Security Issues Highlighted
"Clearly there's been a communication breakdown somewhere but I've never experienced that before, and I haven't really seen that in the past. It's completely unacceptable"
"We cannot comprehend how on a ongoing race track marshals can be authorized to just dash across the track like that. I'm clueless about the cause, I'm sure we'll get some form of reasoning, but this absolutely cannot recur"
Formal Inquiry in Progress
F1's overseeing organization, the global motorsport federation, is actively examining the circumstances
"After an occurrence at turn one, race control was notified that debris was present on the track at the turning point of that curve" declared the regulatory authority
"During the third lap, marshals were notified and put on alert to enter the track and remove the wreckage once all cars had passed"
"The moment it was realized that Lawson had entered the pits, the orders to send officials were withdrawn and a safety warning flag was raised in that section"
"Our inquiry continues what occurred subsequent to that time"
