Liam Lawson shocked to have been blamed for F1 marshal near-miss

Liam Lawson says he was “extremely surprised” to have been blamed by Mexico’s motorsport federation for his near-miss with marshals.

The Racing Bulls driver narrowly avoided a collision with two marshals during the early stages of the Mexico City Grand Prix in a terrifying incident.

Mexico’s motorsport federation accused Lawson of failing to drive with sufficient caution, but F1’s governing body the FIA later absolved the Kiwi of any wrongdoing.

The FIA’s own statement confirmed Lawson had “slowed appropriately and reacted correctly” to the double yellow flags being waved in the area.

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix, Lawson said he was grateful for the FIA’s backing.

“I was extremely surprised when it all initially came out,” Lawson told Sky Sports F1.

“I was appreciative that the FIA came out, obviously it was heavily reviewed, their team was involved and we have all the data from inside the car, so the statement was very factual and very clear.

“I was extremely surprised - still am very surprised that they would just post something like that without the research.”

Lawson explains his side of incident

Lawson said he wanted to ensure he avoided any drastic or erratic movements behind the wheel of his F1 car that may have spooked the marshals as they ran across the track.

“The thing is, maybe some people would expect big avoiding action and swerving and stuff like this when something like this happens, but it’s like when you are running at somebody and you don’t know what direction they are going to go,” he explained.

“Honestly, when I saw that they were running across the track, I knew as long as I kept that trajectory, and just opened up in a safe way without any erratic movements, that they would hopefully keep going in that direction.

“If I start swerving, I’m going to freak the guy out and he might turn back the other way. In the end I just rolled out to a line that was so much wider than I had been taking all weekend anyway. That’s really what happened, which is obviously what the investigation showed.”