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Formula 1 driver Liam Lawson disclosed he narrowly avoided a potentially fatal collision during Sunday's Mexico City Grand Prix when a pair of track officials ran across the track directly in front of him

The concerning event took place on the third rotation when track officials were seen on the racing surface as Lawson was returning to the race following an early pitstop to replace his broken nose section

Competitor's Live Reaction

Shortly afterward, Racing Bulls driver Lawson communicated to his team engineer saying: "Are you kidding me? Did you witness that? I might have... taken their lives"

"I truly couldn't comprehend what I was witnessing"

"I exited on a new set of hards, and then I got to Turn One and suddenly there were two dudes dashing across the track"

"I came close to striking one of them, frankly, it was so dangerous"

Safety Concerns Raised

"Obviously there's been a failure in communication somewhere but This is the first time I've faced that before, and I haven't previously witnessed that in the past. It's pretty unacceptable"

"We fail to grasp how on a ongoing race track track officials can be allowed to just run across the track like that. I'm clueless about the cause, I'm sure we'll get some sort of explanation, but this absolutely cannot recur"

Governing Body Reviewing

The sport's regulatory authority, the International Automobile Federation (FIA), is actively examining the events

"Subsequent to a first corner event, the race directors was informed that wreckage remained on the track at the critical section of that bend" stated the FIA

"In the third rotation, marshals were notified and made ready to enter the track and remove the wreckage once all cars had passed"

"The moment it was realized that Lawson had made a pit stop, the orders to send officials were withdrawn and a safety warning flag was displayed in that zone"

"We are still investigating what happened following that moment"