{'I could have killed them' - Lawson encounters close call with Formula 1 safety personnel
Formula 1 driver Liam Lawson revealed he came dangerously close to a life-threatening collision during Sunday's Mexican Grand Prix when a pair of track officials crossed the track right in his path
The alarming incident occurred on the third lap when track officials were seen on the track as Lawson was returning to the race following an quick visit to the pits to swap his damaged front wing
Driver's Immediate Reaction
Moments later, the team's competitor Lawson radioed to his race engineer saying: "Is this for real? Did you witness that? I might have... taken their lives"
"I truly couldn't comprehend what I was seeing"
"I exited on a new set of hards, and then I arrived at Turn One and unexpectedly appeared two dudes sprinting across the track"
"I nearly hit one of them, honestly, it was incredibly risky"
Security Issues Highlighted
"Clearly there's been a failure in communication somewhere but I've never experienced that before, and I can't recall observing that in the past. It's absolutely inexcusable"
"We fail to grasp how on a ongoing race track track officials can be allowed to just dash across the track in that manner. I don't understand the reason, I'm confident we'll get some sort of explanation, but it really can't happen again"
Governing Body Reviewing
Formula 1's governing body, the FIA, is thoroughly reviewing the events
"After an occurrence at turn one, race control was advised that fragments were located on the track at the critical section of that bend" stated the governing body
"In the third rotation, track officials were alerted and made ready to enter the track and recover the debris once every vehicle had gone by"
"Immediately when it was understood that Lawson had made a pit stop, the instructions to dispatch personnel were withdrawn and a caution signal was displayed in that zone"
"Our inquiry continues what happened subsequent to that time"
