Liam Lawson cleared of blame by FIA for marshals scare at Mexico Grand Prix

Formula One’s governing body the FIA have issued a statement absolving the Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson of all blame in an exceptionally dangerous incident when he came close to hitting two marshals running across the track in front of him at the Mexico Grand Prix.

The statement is a strong rebuttal to an attempt to hold Lawson responsible made by the Mexican racing federation, the Organización Mexicana De Automovilismo Internacional (Omdai), while the FIA is still carrying out an investigation into the incident.

On Tuesday the Omdai issued a statement, not ratified by the FIA, that claimed the marshals should have been “clearly visible” to Lawson and that the New Zealander “did not interrupt his [driving] line despite the obvious presence of marshals on the track”.

On Friday the FIA responded by dismissing the assertion. “Having analysed the telemetry from the incident, we can confirm that the driver of Car #30, Liam Lawson, slowed appropriately and reacted correctly to the double yellow flags displayed in the area, braking earlier than in other laps and passing significantly slower than racing speed into Turn 1. He is not at fault in this incident,” the statement read.

Lawson had returned to the pits on the opening laps of the race having taken damage. When he emerged he was confronted with two marshals running across the track having been clearing debris from the opening corners directly in front of him.

“Mate. Oh my god, are you kidding me? Did you just see that?” he said to his engineer on team radio. “I could have fucking killed them.”

After the race he was outraged that the marshals had been placed in such danger apparently without being informed that he was out of time with the rest of the field after pitting early.

“I honestly couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” he said. “It’s pretty unacceptable. 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.”

At the time the marshals had been prepared to be given the all-clear to collect debris from the opening corners, however when Lawson took his stop the FIA race director rescinded the clearance to enter the track. Why the marshals still proceeded to do so remains the subject of an FIA investigation.

“Whilst the investigation remains ongoing, we acknowledge that any situation where marshals find themselves on track in front of oncoming cars is something we never want to see, and hence it is natural that such an incident will provoke concern and numerous comments,” the FIA stated.

“It is fortunate this incident did not result in any serious consequences, but we are conducting an internal investigation to understand exactly what happened and to identify any areas where procedures can be improved.”