{'I could have killed them' - Lawson experiences near miss with F1 safety personnel
Formula 1 racer Liam Lawson stated he barely escaped a potentially deadly accident during Sunday's F1 event in Mexico when two safety personnel darted across the track immediately ahead of his car
The dangerous situation happened on the third circuit when track officials were seen on the circuit as Lawson was returning to the race following an premature pit stop to replace his compromised front wing
Competitor's Live Reaction
Shortly afterward, Racing Bulls driver Lawson spoke to his team engineer saying: "Is this for real? Did you just see that? I nearly... ended their lives"
"I genuinely couldn't process what I was observing"
"I rejoined with a brand new hard tyres, and then I arrived at Turn One and suddenly there were two individuals running across the track"
"I almost collided with one of them, frankly, it was extremely hazardous"
Security Issues Highlighted
"Clearly there's been a failure in communication at some point but I've never encountered that before, and I haven't previously witnessed that in the past. It's pretty unacceptable"
"We cannot comprehend how on a active circuit track officials can be authorized to just dash across the track like that. I'm clueless about the cause, I'm confident we'll get some form of reasoning, but it really can't happen again"
Governing Body Reviewing
The sport's regulatory authority, the FIA, is thoroughly reviewing the events
"Subsequent to a first corner event, the race directors was notified that wreckage remained on the track at the critical section of that bend" declared the regulatory authority
"In the third rotation, safety personnel were notified and put on alert to go onto the racing surface and remove the wreckage once every vehicle had gone by"
"Immediately when it was understood that Lawson had pitted, the orders to send officials were withdrawn and a double yellow flag was raised in that area"
"Our inquiry continues what transpired following that moment"
