FIA explained the situation with Liam Lawson and Carlos Sainz at the start of F1 Mexico and end, as the Kiwi calls it dangerous and unacceptable.
It was an early end for Visa Cash App RB’s Lawson in F1 Mexico GP when he got a broken front wing and damaged floor due to Turn 1 hit from Williams’ Sainz on Lap 1. The Kiwi took the outside line and cleared some cars when the Spaniard came at the side of him at Turn 1 and clipped his front wing.
It looked like a minor touch but his endplate was gone. He eventually pitted to get the front wing changed, as they assessed the damage on the floor. It was enough to force him to retire. The big moment happened just when he exited the pit lane under double waved yellow situation.
He spotted marshals running across at Turn 1 to clear his car’s debris. The moment was not shown on the world feed, neither the commentators talked about it, but the video was available all over social media. Lawson couldn’t believe what he saw at that moment either.
“Oh my god, are you kidding me?” Lawson said on the radio. “Did you see that? Oh my god dude, I could have f***ing killed them.” Post-race, the Kiwi termed it dangerous and unacceptable while waiting to hear from the FIA as to what transpired, hinting on some communication gap.
“Yeah, I honestly couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” said Lawson to media. “I boxed, came out on a new set of hards, and then I got to Turn 1, and there was two dudes just running across the track. I nearly had one of them. Honestly, it was so dangerous. Obviously, there’s been a miscommunication somewhere.
“But I’ve never experienced that before, and I haven’t really seen that in the past, so it’s pretty unacceptable. Yeah, for sure. We obviously can’t understand how on a live track, the marshals can be allowed to just run across the track like that. So yeah, I have no idea why, but I’m sure we’ll get some explanation, but it really can’t happen again,” summed up Lawson.
It all happened due to his hit from Sainz. He didn’t blame the Spaniard this time, but stressed that there should be more awareness from the drivers, especially in such corners and when one cuts a chicane. He feels he left enough space and still the Williams driver barged into him.
“Had a good start and then basically had a lot of space on the inside to fill the gap, a lot of guys started to move in Turn 1 and I left a bit of space next to Carlos and I think he just cut the chicane and hasn’t left enough right there and he’s just driven inside of me,” said Lawson. “It is something that’s….it sucks. You have to have more awareness honestly, but it destroyed my car and I had to retire.
“There’s not really much I can say. I don’t think he’s done intentionally, he’s not intentionally driven into me but it is just one of things. I know I completely understand the first lap is chaotic but we are all trying to be aware of what’s going on and you can’t just can’t decide to cut the chicane without looking your left because he’s hit me so hard that it damaged the side of the floor, broke my front wing.
“So, in the end, he just killed our race within three seconds like that. I mean, it is just one of things, unfortunately,” summed up Lawson. The FIA explained their side of things after the race. They noted that the call for marshals to run over was initially given, but was quickly withdrawn when the race director saw the Kiwi pitting. They immediately got the double waved yellow flag up.
Lawson was informed of the flag situation when exiting the pitlane. The message potentially was received a tad late and by the time it did, the marshals were already on track. The FIA, however, will investigate the matter further and try to rectify the situation for better in the future.
“Following a Turn 1 incident, Race Control was informed that debris was present on the track at the apex of that corner,” the FIA in a statement said. “On lap 3, Marshals were alerted and placed on standby to enter the track and recover the debris once all cars had passed Turn 1. As soon as it became apparent that Lawson had pitted, the instructions to dispatch marshals were rescinded, and a double yellow flag was shown in that area.
“We are still investigating what occurred after that point.” The FIA also answered the query on late Virtual Safety Car period when Sainz spun under the stadium and stopped his car near a gap in the run-off. While he thought it was fully in, but it wasn’t behind the barrier fully.
There was also smoke bellowing from the back of the car, which forced the marshals to be in place to extinguish the flames. This resulted in a standard VSC period. Once the car was cleared, it went green, but by then it was too late for either Max Verstappen and or Oscar Piastri to pounce on their respective rivals ahead.
“Later in the race on lap 70, Sainz spun and stopped in the runoff area on the outside of Turn 14,” the FIA continued. “His car came to a halt in an exposed position. The car subsequently began smoking and race control received notifications of fire, making it clear that marshal intervention would be required for recovery.
“As is standard procedure when marshals are deployed to recover a car, the race is neutralized, in this case, a Virtual Safety Car (VSC) was triggered until the car was moved to a safe location behind the barriers. The VSC ended as soon as the car was in a protected position, and the race concluded under green-flag conditions.
“We would like to underline our respect and appreciation for the local ASN, OMDAI, as well as the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez and their marshals, who are volunteers and play a vital role in the safe and successful running of our sport. Their professionalism and dedication are invaluable to every event we stage.”
Here’s how F1 Mexico GP panned out
