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Formula 1 driver Liam Lawson disclosed he came dangerously close to a life-threatening incident during Sunday's Mexican Grand Prix when two safety personnel crossed the track immediately ahead of his car

The dangerous situation took place on the third lap when track officials were observed on the racing surface as Lawson was returning to the race following an early pitstop to change his compromised front wing

Driver's Immediate Reaction

Immediately after, Racing Bulls driver Lawson spoke to his race engineer saying: "Is this for real? Could you believe what happened? I might have... taken their lives"

"I honestly couldn't believe what I was observing"

"I rejoined with a fresh hard compound tires, and then I got to Turn One and suddenly there were two individuals running across the track"

"I came close to striking one of them, frankly, it was incredibly risky"

Track Safety Questioned

"Evidently there's been a miscommunication at some point but I've never experienced that before, and I can't recall observing that in the past. It's absolutely inexcusable"

"We can't understand how on a active circuit safety personnel can be permitted to just sprint across the track like that. I'm clueless about the cause, I'm confident we'll get some kind of clarification, but this absolutely cannot recur"

Governing Body Reviewing

Formula 1's governing body, the International Automobile Federation (FIA), is actively examining the circumstances

"After an occurrence at turn one, track officials was advised that debris was present on the track at the turning point of that curve" commented the FIA

"During the third lap, marshals were informed and put on alert to go onto the racing surface and recover the debris once the entire field had cleared the area"

"As soon as it became apparent that Lawson had made a pit stop, the directives to deploy officials were withdrawn and a caution signal was displayed in that area"

"The examination is ongoing what happened subsequent to that time"