Liam Lawson shocked after Mexican federation blames him for F1 marshal near-miss
Liam Lawson was “very surprised” by the FIA’s Mexican body blaming him for his near-miss with marshals during the Formula 1 Mexico Grand Prix.
The Racing Bulls driver encountered two marshals near Turn 3 during the most recent grand prix, after they were ordered to collect debris following a messy race start at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
They were caught out by Lawson pitting, however, as he needed a new front wing from his collision with Carlos Sainz, which left too short of a gap for marshals to safely recover debris.
The incident is therefore being investigated by the FIA, whose Mexican body quickly blamed Lawson – claiming he failed to sufficiently slow down under the double waved yellow flags.
It also said the 23-year-old should have seen the marshals on track, but the FIA then responded by stating Lawson isn’t to blame and that the investigation is still ongoing.
Lawson spoke about the matter ahead of this weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix and when asked about the Mexican federation putting blame on him, he said: “I was very surprised. I think the FIA’s statement was very clear and very accurate. I don’t really need to say too much more than what was put in that statement.
Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls Team
Photo by: James Sutton / LAT Images via Getty Images
“It was obviously checked into, everything that led to that happening, to the fact that they got caught out there, and everything I did in the car to obviously slow down and avoid them, and take a completely different line to what I’ve taken through the entire weekend. But yes, I was extremely surprised. Still am very surprised.”
Lawson labelled the incident as a “miscommunication” and confirmed that the FIA apologised to him that Sunday night.
“I had a talk with them and I appreciated that a lot,” he said. “I do understand we’re in a sport with a huge amount of variables, and these things, as much as they can’t happen again, they shouldn’t happen.
“There’s always a possibility of something like this, and obviously what’s most important is that the action is taken now to prevent it. So I didn’t have a problem with any of that. It was just the statement that came out, trying to accuse me of doing something.”
The New Zealander retired from the Mexico Grand Prix very soon after the incident, but his main worry was that he “nearly hit one of them” rather than his poor result.
“At the time I was more concerned about the fact that these two guys were running across the track in front of me,” he said.
“In that moment I have no idea what direction they’re going to run, and I try to basically do as little direction changes as possible so that they don’t get spooked and change direction. So at the time that was really what I was thinking about. Anyway, we had a very damaged car and it didn’t make a difference to our race.”
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