{'I could have killed them' - Lawson faces near miss with Formula 1 safety personnel
Formula 1 competitor Liam Lawson disclosed he came dangerously close to a life-threatening incident 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 lap when safety workers were observed on the racing surface as Lawson was returning to the race following an early pitstop to change his compromised front wing
Competitor's Live Reaction
Moments later, the team's competitor Lawson communicated to his team engineer saying: "Is this for real? Could you believe what happened? 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 there were just two guys dashing across the track"
"I nearly hit one of them, frankly, it was extremely hazardous"
Safety Concerns Raised
"Evidently there's been a communication breakdown somehow but I've never encountered that before, and I haven't previously witnessed that in the past. It's pretty unacceptable"
"We can't understand how on a live track track officials can be allowed to just sprint across the track in that manner. I'm clueless about the cause, I'm sure we'll get some sort of explanation, but this absolutely cannot recur"
Formal Inquiry in Progress
F1's overseeing organization, the International Automobile Federation (FIA), is thoroughly reviewing the situation
"Subsequent to a first corner event, the race directors was informed that fragments were located on the track at the apex of that corner" declared the governing body
"During the third lap, marshals were informed and placed on standby to enter the track and clear the fragments once every vehicle had gone by"
"As soon as it became apparent that Lawson had made a pit stop, the orders to send officials were canceled and a safety warning flag was raised in that zone"
"The examination is ongoing what happened subsequent to that time"
