{'I could have killed them' - Lawson faces near miss with Formula 1 track officials
Formula 1 racer Liam Lawson disclosed he came dangerously close to a potentially fatal accident during Sunday's Mexican Grand Prix when two safety personnel crossed the track right in his path
The alarming incident occurred on the third rotation when track officials were spotted on the racing surface as Lawson was returning to the race following an early pitstop to change his damaged front wing
Driver's Immediate Reaction
Immediately after, Racing Bulls driver Lawson radioed to his race engineer saying: "Are you kidding me? Did you just see that? I nearly... ended their lives"
"I honestly couldn't believe what I was witnessing"
"I came out on a fresh hard compound tires, and then I got to Turn One and unexpectedly appeared two dudes sprinting across the track"
"I came close to striking one of them, honestly, it was so dangerous"
Safety Concerns Raised
"Evidently there's been a failure in communication somehow but This is the first time I've faced that before, and I haven't really seen that in the past. It's absolutely inexcusable"
"We can't understand how on a ongoing race track safety personnel can be allowed to just dash across the track in such a way. I have no idea why, I'm certain we'll get some kind of clarification, but it really can't happen again"
Governing Body Reviewing
Formula 1's governing body, the FIA, is thoroughly reviewing the events
"Subsequent to a first corner event, race control was notified that wreckage remained on the track at the critical section of that bend" commented the regulatory authority
"On lap three, track officials were alerted and placed on standby to enter the track and recover the debris once every vehicle had gone by"
"Immediately when it was understood that Lawson had pitted, the directives to deploy personnel were withdrawn and a double yellow flag was shown in that section"
"Our inquiry continues what occurred after that point"
