Mexico City Grand Prix: Liam Lawson has near miss with F1 marshals

Formula 1 driver Liam Lawson says he narrowly avoided a fatal crash after two police officers ran onto the track in front of him at Sunday’s Mexico City Grand Prix.

The incident occurred on lap three when stewards were spotted on track as Lawson rejoined the race after an early pit stop to replace the front wing.

Shortly afterwards, Racing Bulls driver Lawson told the race engineer on the team radio: “Are you kidding me? Did you just see? I… I could have killed them.”

After the race he added: “I honestly couldn’t believe what I saw.

“[I] A new set of challenges emerged [tyres]and then I got to Turn One and there were only two guys running on the track.

“I almost hit someone, obviously it was very dangerous.

“Obviously there’s a miscommunication somewhere but I’ve never experienced it before and I haven’t really seen it in the past. It’s completely unacceptable.”

“We can’t understand how on a live track the stewards were allowed to run around 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.”

Formula 1’s governing body, the International Automobile Federation (FIA), is investigating the situation.

“Following an incident at turn one, race control was informed that there was debris on the track at the apex of that turn,” the FIA ​​said.

“On the third lap, the stewards were warned and stood by to enter the track and collect the debris after all the vehicles had passed.

“As soon as it became apparent that Lawson had entered the pits, the order to deploy police officers was canceled and a double yellow flag was displayed in that area.

“We are still investigating what happened after that point.”