The FIA has launched an investigation into a terrifying incident at the Mexican Grand Prix.
Lando Norris claimed the world championship lead with a dominant victory in Mexico City, ahead of Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen, while his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri came home in fifth.
But the race's biggest incident came on just the third lap, when Liam Lawson narrowly avoided what could have been a fatal crash.
The Racing Bulls driver pitted early to replace a damaged front wing he sustained during the opening lap.
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But as Lawson rejoined the circuit, two marshals were seen running across the track to clear debris from the early incident, as you can see from the footage below, which has emerged online.
Over team radio, Lawson said: “Wait, the f***, oh my God, are you kidding me? Did you see that?”
His engineer replied: “Well done to avoid them.”
Lawson then responded: “I could have f*****g killed them, mate.”
The 23-year-old race did not last much longer.
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The damage from his opening-lap crash was too serious and he was forced to retire early in the race.
It was Lawson's fifth DNF of the season, dropping him down to 15th in the Drivers' Standings.
After the race, he said: "I honestly couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
"Boxed, came out on a new set of hard [tyres], and then I got to turn 1 and there were just two dudes running across the track.
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“I nearly hit one of them, honestly, it was so dangerous.
"Obviously, there’s been a miscommunication somewhere, but I’ve never experienced that before, and I haven’t really seen that in the past."
The Kiwi added: “It’s pretty unacceptable.
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"We 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, I’m sure we’ll get some sort of explanation, but it really can’t happen again.”
Formula 1's governing body, the FIA, issued a statement following the race confirming that an investigation is already underway.
The statement said: “Following a turn 1 incident, Race Control was informed that debris was present on the track at the apex of that corner.
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“On lap 3, Marshals were alerted and placed on standby to enter the track and recover the debris once all cars had passed turn 1.
“As soon as it became apparent that Lawson had pitted, the instructions to dispatch marshals were rescinded, and a double yellow flag was shown in that area.
"We are still investigating what occurred after that point.”
Topics: Formula 1, FIA, Liam Lawson, Motorsport
James Taylor