F1 rookie Liam Lawson had a frightening encounter during the Mexico City Grand Prix. He came within inches of running over two marshals in the pit lane. It happened just moments after Lawson had exited the pit lane on lap three of the race. Additional marshals sprinted across the track to clear debris at turn one. This lapse in supervision put Frankel at major risk and created dangerous safety conditions. According to Lawson, the situation was “just so dangerous.”
As Lawson navigated out of the pit lane, the marshals were alerted and prepared to enter the track to recover debris that had accumulated at the apex of turn one. The order to send out the marshals was canceled once it was clear that Lawson had made a pit stop. According to reports, a double yellow flag— a warning that drivers should be prepared to stop— was posted in the area where the crash occurred.
It helped that Lawson started the race all the way back in 15th. After he took damage during the first lap that required an unscheduled early pit stop. The near miss with the marshals, he said there, really shaken him up, because it’s like, where is this coming from? He could not believe the state of the area, pointing out that it almost led to a deadly derailment.
“Mate. Oh my god, are you kidding me? Did you just see that?” – Liam Lawson
Lawson went on to express his intense outrage regarding the episode. He commented, “It’s pretty awful. I mean, apparently marshals can’t just be running across a live track like that. I don’t know why that happened at all, but I know we’ll receive some explanation of it. It really can’t happen again.” This feeling speaks to a larger issue of drivers’ awareness and discontent with racing safety measures in the wake of several fatalities.
While the race ended with Lando Norris taking the win, Lawson’s harrowing experience brought renewed attention to dangerous shortcomings in track safety. His near miss with the marshals’ arrest raised lots of new discussions. Fans turn their attention to the procedures for handling debris and protecting racecar drivers and track employees from flying debris during events.