Formula 1 driver Liam Lawson could not believe what he was seeing as two marshals ran across the track in front of his car while he was racing in the Mexico City Grand Prix
Formula 1 star Liam Lawson was left stunned as he was forced to slow during the Mexico City Grand Prix to avoid hitting two marshals running across the track. It happened on just the third lap of the race, when marshals at turn one of the circuit were informed of debris on track.
They were told to wait for all cars to pass turn one before entering the circuit to remove any debris. However, what they clearly did not know was that Lawson had visited the pit lane for a change of front wing, after his car was damaged on the opening lap.
He emerged from the pit lane and turned the first corner at which point, to his shock, he saw two marshals on track in front of him running across. The New Zealander was unable to speed up for fear of hitting one of the marshals.
He opened the radio and said: “Mate, what the f***? Oh my god, are you kidding me? Oh my god, mate. I could have f***ing killed them, mate.” He was congratulated by race engineer Ernesto Desiderio for avoiding an incident in such dangerous circumstances.
When approached for comment on what happened, an FIA spokesperson told Mirror Sport it was investigating what happened and explained the instructions that had been given to the marshals in the area by race control in the moments leading up to the incident.
They said: “Following a turn one incident, race control was informed that debris was present on the track at the apex of that corner. On lap three, marshals were alerted and placed on standby to enter the track and recover the debris once all cars had passed turn one.
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“As soon as it became apparent that Lawson had pitted, the instructions to dispatch marshals were rescinded, and a double yellow flag was shown in that area. We are still investigating what occurred after that point.”
Lawson seemed shaken by the incident even after retiring from the race with damage. He said: “I honestly couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I boxed, came out on a new set of hards, and then I got to turn one, and there was two dudes just running across the track. I nearly hit one of them.
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“Honestly, it was so dangerous. Obviously, there’s been a miscommunication somewhere, but I’ve never experienced that before, and I haven’t really seen that in the past, so it’s pretty unacceptable.”
Lawson said he and his Racing Bulls team would “for sure” seek a full explanation regarding the circumstances and added: “We obviously can’t understand how, on a live track, the marshals can be allowed to just run across the track like that. So yeah, I have no idea why, but I’m sure we’ll get some explanation, but it really can’t happen again.”
The race was won by Britain’s Lando Norris, who is the new championship leader with just four rounds to go, one point ahead of McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri who finished fifth.