{'I could have killed them' - Lawson experiences close call with F1 track officials
Formula 1 racer Liam Lawson revealed he barely escaped a potentially fatal incident during Sunday's F1 event in Mexico when two safety personnel ran across the track right in his path
The dangerous situation took place on the third rotation when safety workers were observed on the racing surface as Lawson was rejoining the race following an quick visit to the pits to replace his compromised front wing
Driver's Immediate Reaction
Immediately after, the Formula 1 racer Lawson radioed to his race engineer saying: "You've got to be joking? Could you believe what happened? I could have... killed them"
"I genuinely couldn't process what I was seeing"
"I rejoined with a fresh hard compound tires, and then I arrived at Turn One and there were just two guys sprinting across the track"
"I nearly hit one of them, truthfully, it was so dangerous"
Security Issues Highlighted
"Evidently there's been a communication breakdown somewhere but I've never encountered that before, and I can't recall observing that in the past. It's completely unacceptable"
"We fail to grasp how on a ongoing race track safety personnel can be allowed to just dash across the track like that. I'm clueless about the cause, I'm certain we'll get some sort of explanation, but it really can't happen again"
Governing Body Reviewing
The sport's regulatory authority, the International Automobile Federation (FIA), is actively examining the situation
"Subsequent to a first corner event, the race directors was advised that wreckage remained on the track at the apex of that corner" commented the FIA
"On lap three, safety personnel were notified and put on alert to access the circuit and clear the fragments once the entire field had cleared the area"
"The moment it was realized that Lawson had pitted, the orders to send marshals were canceled and a double yellow flag was raised in that section"
"Our inquiry continues what transpired after that point"
