{'I could have killed them' - Lawson faces near miss with F1 safety personnel
Formula 1 competitor Liam Lawson stated he barely escaped a potentially fatal incident during Sunday's Mexican Grand Prix when two safety personnel darted across the track immediately ahead of his car
The concerning event happened on the third rotation when track officials were observed on the circuit as Lawson was returning to the race following an early pitstop to swap his compromised front wing
Racer's Instant Response
Immediately after, the team's competitor Lawson radioed to his race engineer saying: "Is this for real? Could you believe what happened? I nearly... ended their lives"
"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 individuals dashing across the track"
"I came close to striking one of them, truthfully, it was incredibly risky"
Track Safety Questioned
"Evidently there's been a communication breakdown at some point but I've never encountered that before, and I haven't previously witnessed that in the past. It's absolutely inexcusable"
"We can't understand how on a ongoing race track marshals can be allowed to just dash across the track like that. I don't understand the reason, I'm certain we'll get some form of reasoning, but this must never be repeated"
Governing Body Reviewing
The sport's regulatory authority, the International Automobile Federation (FIA), is thoroughly reviewing the events
"Following a turn one incident, the race directors was notified that wreckage remained on the track at the apex of that corner" stated the governing body
"During the third lap, track officials were alerted and placed on standby to access the circuit and clear the fragments once the entire field had cleared the area"
"As soon as it became apparent that Lawson had made a pit stop, the orders to send personnel were canceled and a safety warning flag was displayed in that area"
"The examination is ongoing what occurred after that point"