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Liam Lawson narrowly avoided disaster after two marshals ran onto the track at the Mexico City Grand Prix – with the F1 driver saying: “I could have killed them.”
The New Zealander pitted after the first lap following a collision with Carlos Sainz at turn one, which resulted in debris on track.
But the Racing Bulls driver rejoined the track, and the turn one-two section, just as two marshals collecting the debris ran across the circuit. Seemingly, the marshals were unaware that Lawson had pitted and so was an outlier amongst the pack.
A shaken Lawson, 23, said to his race engineer Ernesto Desiderio over team radio: “Wait, the f*** – oh my God, are you kidding me? Did you see that?” Fortunately for the marshals, Lawson was warned about the double-waved yellow flags – instructing drivers to slow down – at that section of racetrack and was not driving at racing speed.
“Well done to avoid them,” Desiderio replied. Lawson then stated: “I could have f****** killed them, mate.”
The incident brings back memories of Esteban Ocon’s incident at the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, in which he narrowly avoided a string of photographers in the pit lane, and will again trigger more questions about the FIA’s safety protocols.
Lawson eventually retired from the grand prix but said afterwards: “I honestly couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Boxed, came out on a new set of hard [tyres], and then I got to turn 1 and there were just two dudes running across the track.
“I nearly hit one of them, 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.
“It’s pretty unacceptable. We can’t understand how on a live track, marshals can be allowed to just run across the track like that. I have no idea why, I’m sure we’ll get some sort of explanation, but it really can’t happen again.”
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Lawson was in disbelief after the incident (Getty Images)
The FIA, F1’s governing body in charge of such processes, said in a statement: “Following a turn 1 incident, Race Control was informed that debris was present on the track at the apex of that corner.
“On lap 3, Marshals were alerted and placed on standby to enter the track and recover the debris once all cars had passed turn 1.
“As soon as it became apparent that Lawson had pitted, the instructions to dispatch marshals were rescinded, and a double yellow flag was shown in that area.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.”
Lando Norris won the action-packed race in Mexico, retaking the F1 championship lead in the process, with Oscar Piastri finishing down in fifth. Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen completed the podium.
The next race is in Brazil on 8 November.
