Lawson came close to hitting two marshals running across track in Mexico City

Before retiring from the race, Liam Lawson was close to hitting two marshals who ran across the track.

Marshals were collecting debris from the track when Lawson encountered them | Credit: Formula One

A chaotic start to the race in Mexico City resulted in Lawson clashing with Carlos Sainz at Turn 2, where Lawson then had to pit for new tyres at the end of Lap 1.

After coming out of the pits with fresh tyres, there were reports of debris on track along with double-waved yellow flags at Turns 1-3. 

Lawson then came scarily close to hitting two marshals who ran across the track in front of his Racing Bulls car.

Lawson, clearly shocked by the incident, came over the radio and said: “Oh my god, are you kidding me?

“Did you see that? Oh my god dude, I could have killed them.”

Lawson unfortunately had to retire from the race due to damage from the Lap 1 incident with Sainz. Following his race, Lawson spoke to the media about the marshals incident:

“I honestly couldn't believe what I was seeing. Boxed and came out on a new set of hards and then I got to Turn 1 and there were two dudes just running across the track and I nearly hit one of them.

"It was so dangerous and obviously, there's been a miscommunication somewhere, but I've never experienced that before.

"I haven't really seen that in the past, so it's pretty unacceptable."

“We obviously can't understand how on a live track marshals can be allowed to just run across the track like that.

"I have no idea why, but I'm sure we'll get some explanation, but it really can't happen again."

As of this writing, there have not yet been any comments from the FIA regarding the situation.