{'I could have killed them' - Lawson encounters near miss with Formula 1 safety personnel
Formula 1 driver Liam Lawson stated he came dangerously close to a life-threatening accident during Sunday's F1 event in Mexico when a pair of track officials darted across the track directly in front of him
The alarming incident happened on the third circuit when track officials were spotted on the circuit as Lawson was returning to the race following an quick visit to the pits to change his broken nose section
Driver's Immediate Reaction
Moments later, the team's competitor Lawson radioed to his team engineer saying: "Is this for real? Did you just see that? I nearly... ended their lives"
"I genuinely couldn't process what I was witnessing"
"I rejoined with a fresh hard compound tires, and then I got to Turn One and suddenly there were two individuals sprinting across the track"
"I came close to striking one of them, truthfully, it was extremely hazardous"
Track Safety Questioned
"Obviously there's been a communication breakdown somewhere but This is the first time I've faced that before, and I can't recall observing that in the past. It's absolutely inexcusable"
"We can't understand how on a live track safety personnel can be permitted to just run across the track in that manner. I don't understand the reason, I'm certain we'll get some form of reasoning, but this must never be repeated"
Governing Body Reviewing
The sport's regulatory authority, the FIA, is actively examining the situation
"Following a turn one incident, the race directors was informed that debris was present on the track at the apex of that corner" commented the regulatory authority
"During the third lap, track officials were notified and placed on standby to enter the track and clear the fragments once every vehicle had gone by"
"Immediately when it was understood that Lawson had made a pit stop, the directives to deploy marshals were withdrawn and a safety warning flag was raised in that area"
"Our inquiry continues what happened following that moment"