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Formula 1 competitor Liam Lawson disclosed he narrowly avoided a potentially fatal accident during Sunday's F1 event in Mexico when a pair of track officials ran across the track immediately ahead of his car

The alarming incident happened on the third rotation when marshals were spotted on the track as Lawson was returning to the race following an early pitstop to swap his compromised front wing

Racer's Instant Response

Shortly afterward, Racing Bulls driver Lawson spoke to his pit wall engineer saying: "Is this for real? Did you witness that? I might have... taken their lives"

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

"I came out on a fresh hard compound tires, and then I got to Turn One and unexpectedly appeared two individuals running across the track"

"I came close to striking one of them, honestly, it was extremely hazardous"

Safety Concerns Raised

"Evidently there's been a communication breakdown at some point but This is the first time I've faced that before, and I can't recall observing that in the past. It's pretty unacceptable"

"We cannot comprehend how on a live track track officials can be permitted to just sprint across the track in such a way. I'm clueless about the cause, I'm sure we'll get some kind of clarification, but this must never be repeated"

Governing Body Reviewing

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

"Subsequent to a first corner event, race control was notified that fragments were located on the track at the apex of that corner" declared the governing body

"On lap three, marshals were alerted and placed on standby to go onto the racing surface and recover the debris once all cars had passed"

"The moment it was realized that Lawson had made a pit stop, the directives to deploy officials were withdrawn and a double yellow flag was raised in that section"

"We are still investigating what happened following that moment"