The FIA rejects accusations against Liam Lawson, stating that the Racing Bulls driver acted correctly during the incident with the marshals.
The incident occurred in the third lap of last Sunday’s Grand Prix. The Racing Bulls driver encountered two marshals in turn 3 who had been sent onto the track to clear debris after a turbulent start to the race. Shortly afterwards, however, the order was withdrawn after it became clear that Lawson had come into the pits to change his front wing following a collision with Williams driver Carlos Sainz. This meant that the originally planned time buffer for safely clearing the debris was no longer available. The FIA subsequently launched an investigation to clarify why the marshals were still on the track. OMDAI Sport Mexico published a statement this week blaming Lawson. The association accused the 23-year-old New Zealander of not braking sufficiently under double yellow flags, even though he should have seen the marshals.
FIA explains: Lawson reacted correctly to double yellow flags
On Friday, the FIA contradicted this account in its own statement: “After analyzing the telemetry data, we can confirm that the driver of car number 30, Liam Lawson, slowed down appropriately and reacted correctly to the double yellow flags.”
“He braked earlier than in other laps and entered Turn 1 at a significantly reduced speed. He is not at fault in this case. We would like to express our sincere thanks to the volunteers and marshals for their dedication and professionalism. Without them, safe racing would not be possible.”
The FIA also provided an update on the ongoing investigation, which had not been dealt with by the stewards during the race. “Although the investigation is ongoing, we recognize that any situation in which marshals are on the track in front of approaching vehicles is extremely concerning.”
Investigation into the incident continues
“It is therefore understandable that such an incident causes a stir. Fortunately, the event did not have any serious consequences. Nevertheless, we are conducting an internal investigation to understand exactly what happened and to identify possible improvements to our procedures.”
“We are working openly and transparently with the Mexican automobile club OMDAI and the Racing Bulls team to achieve our common goal: to continuously improve safety in motorsport. As with all serious incidents, the full analysis will take some time, as all relevant evidence, including radio communications in multiple languages, must be collected and collated. The results will be published once the investigation has been completed,“ the statement continued. Lawson himself was shocked after the race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez: ”To be honest, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Suddenly, two people ran across the track at Turn 1, and I almost collided with one of them. It was extremely dangerous. Apparently, there was some kind of
“This is simply unacceptable. It’s incomprehensible how marshals can run around on an active track. I have no idea how this happened, but I’m sure we’ll get an explanation.”
