{'I could have killed them' - Lawson encounters dangerous incident with Formula 1 safety personnel
Formula 1 driver Liam Lawson stated he barely escaped a life-threatening accident during Sunday's F1 event in Mexico when a pair of track officials crossed the track right in his path
The concerning event occurred on the third rotation when track officials were observed on the racing surface as Lawson was returning to the race following an early pitstop to swap his damaged front wing
Competitor's Live Reaction
Moments later, Racing Bulls driver Lawson radioed to his team engineer saying: "Are you kidding me? Could you believe what happened? I could have... killed them"
"I truly couldn't comprehend what I was observing"
"I exited on a new set of hards, and then I approached Turn One and unexpectedly appeared two dudes running across the track"
"I nearly hit one of them, truthfully, it was incredibly risky"
Safety Concerns Raised
"Obviously there's been a miscommunication somehow but I've never experienced that before, and I haven't really seen that in the past. It's absolutely inexcusable"
"We fail to grasp how on a active circuit track officials can be allowed to just sprint across the track in that manner. I have no idea why, I'm sure we'll get some sort of explanation, but this must never be repeated"
Formal Inquiry in Progress
F1's overseeing organization, the International Automobile Federation (FIA), is thoroughly reviewing the circumstances
"Following a turn one incident, track officials was notified that wreckage remained on the track at the turning point of that curve" commented the regulatory authority
"In the third rotation, track officials were informed and put on alert to enter the track and remove the wreckage once the entire field had cleared the area"
"The moment it was realized that Lawson had entered the pits, the orders to send personnel were withdrawn and a double yellow flag was shown in that section"
"Our inquiry continues what transpired subsequent to that time"
