{'I could have killed them' - Lawson encounters near miss with F1 safety personnel
Formula 1 racer Liam Lawson disclosed he came dangerously close to a life-threatening collision during Sunday's Mexico City Grand Prix when a pair of track officials crossed the track right in his path
The concerning event happened on the third lap when safety workers were seen on the racing surface as Lawson was rejoining the race following an early pitstop to swap his compromised front wing
Racer's Instant Response
Moments later, the team's competitor Lawson communicated to his race engineer saying: "You've got to be joking? Could you believe what happened? I could have... killed them"
"I truly couldn't comprehend what I was witnessing"
"I exited on a fresh hard compound tires, and then I got to Turn One and there were just two dudes running across the track"
"I came close to striking one of them, honestly, it was incredibly risky"
Safety Concerns Raised
"Clearly there's been a miscommunication somehow but I've never experienced that before, and I haven't previously witnessed that in the past. It's absolutely inexcusable"
"We cannot comprehend how on a live track track officials can be permitted to just run across the track like that. I'm clueless about the cause, 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, track officials was advised that fragments were located on the track at the apex of that corner" stated the governing body
"In the third rotation, marshals were alerted and placed on standby to enter the track and clear the fragments once the entire field had cleared the area"
"The moment it was realized that Lawson had pitted, the instructions to dispatch marshals were rescinded and a safety warning flag was displayed in that area"
"We are still investigating what happened subsequent to that time"
