Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson was left in shock by a moment of marshalling that could’ve ended in disaster at the Mexico Grand Prix.
The New Zealand driver qualified in 15th for the race but was part of a chaotic first lap that saw him with a front wing requiring repair.
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Photographers caught the moment of madnessCredit: Getty
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It was a terrifyingly close shave for the marshals and Lawson
Having dipped into the pits, he came out well out of sequence to the rest of the grid, enough that two marshals thought they had time to pick up debris.
Fan footage captured the pair making their way across the track, and then back in front of an accelerating Lawson.
More footage then later emerged from Lawson’s cockpit showing just how close things were.
Reacting to the shocking moment, the 23-year-old said: “Hey for f***… Oh my god are you kidding me?!”
Speaking to his race engineer he then said: “Did you see that? Oh my god, dude. I could’ve f****** killed them mate.”
His engineer then replied: “Yeah saw it, well done to avoid them.”
Lawson eventually caught up with the rest of the drivers, but soon returned to the pits once more and retired due to damage from his lap one accident.
In a social media statement Racing Bulls said: “Following contact early in the race, car 30 received damage and was unable to continue.”
More F1 safety concerns for Lawson
To make things even more concerning, this isn’t the first time Lawson’s been unnecessarily put in harm’s way this season.
Back in August at the Dutch Grand Prix the Kiwi driver wasn’t alerted by marshals to a spun off Charles Leclerc and relied on his race engineer to warn him.
Coming out of the tricky carousel turn 3 at Zandvoort he was met with a Ferrari strewn across the track backwards.
Without emergency physical yellow flags waved, his engineer instead told him of the digital ones.
“Double yellow where you are, double yellow where you are,” Lawson was told.
The driver responded: “Oh my god, I couldn’t see him, you saved me there.”
Elsewhere in Mexico, Lando Norris reclaimed the drivers’ championship lead from McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri.
The Brit won ahead of Charles Leclerc and his other title rival, Max Verstappen, to further close up a three-way title fight with five races to go.
Pos.DriverTeamPts.1Lando NorrisMcLaren3572Oscar PiastriMcLaren3563Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing3214George RussellMercedes2585Charles LeclercFerrari2106Lewis HamiltonFerrari1467Kimi AntonelliMercedes978Alexander AlbonWilliams739Nico HulkenbergKick Sauber4110Isack HadjarRacing Bulls39