{'I could have killed them' - Lawson encounters near miss with Formula 1 track officials
Formula 1 racer Liam Lawson disclosed he barely escaped a potentially deadly accident during Sunday's F1 event in Mexico when two safety personnel darted across the track directly in front of him
The alarming incident took place on the third circuit when track officials were observed on the circuit as Lawson was rejoining the race following an quick visit to the pits to change his compromised front wing
Racer's Instant Response
Immediately after, the team's competitor Lawson spoke to his team engineer saying: "Is this for real? Did you witness that? I could have... killed them"
"I genuinely couldn't process what I was witnessing"
"I rejoined with a fresh hard compound tires, and then I approached Turn One and there were just two individuals running across the track"
"I nearly hit one of them, honestly, it was incredibly risky"
Security Issues Highlighted
"Obviously there's been a failure in communication somehow but This is the first time I've faced that before, and I haven't previously witnessed that in the past. It's pretty unacceptable"
"We fail to grasp how on a ongoing race track safety personnel can be allowed to just run across the track in that manner. I don't understand the reason, I'm sure we'll get some form of reasoning, but it really can't happen again"
Official Investigation Underway
F1's overseeing organization, the FIA, is thoroughly reviewing the situation
"After an occurrence at turn one, the race directors was advised that debris was present on the track at the critical section of that bend" stated the governing body
"On lap three, marshals were informed and put on alert to access the circuit and remove the wreckage once all cars had passed"
"The moment it was realized that Lawson had made a pit stop, the orders to send officials were rescinded and a safety warning flag was displayed in that area"
"We are still investigating what happened subsequent to that time"
