A horrible accident was narrowly averted in Sunday’s Mexico City Grand Prix after two marshals ran across the track in front of Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson in the middle of the high-speed race.
The
incident happened in the third when Lawson rejoined the race after an early pitstop to replace his front wing. As he made a turn, the two Marshals were seen just running across the circuit in front of him.
“Are you kidding me? Did you just see that? I could have f*****g killed them,” Lawson was heard on the internal mic speaking to his race engineer, with the video of his dashcam going viral on social media.
There were Marshalls CROSSING the track during Liam Lawson’s lap…….pic.twitter.com/wV7fWxnvsx
— RBR Daily (@RBR_Daily) October 26, 2025
F1 marshals are (usually) volunteer workers responsible for the safety of the racers. They are stationed at various points of danger around race tracks to assist them in case of any collisions, accidents, or track problems, and are often seen dealing with dangerous debris and aiding rescue work.
They are naturally not permitted to run on the circuit while racing is underway, and doing so is a serious and dangerous breach of safety protocol. They are only authorized to enter the track under strict race control instructions. In this case, they were reportedly clearing debris but were caught unaware of Lawson’s pit stop.
“I honestly couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” Lawson said after the race, which he didn’t finish. “[I] came out on a new set of hards [tyres], and then I got to Turn One and there were just two dudes running across the track. I nearly hit 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. 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.”
The International Automobile Federation (FIA), the sport’s governing body, said it was investigating the circumstances.
“Following a turn one incident, race control was informed that debris was present on the track at the apex of that corner,” the FIA said. “On lap three, marshals were alerted and placed on standby to enter the track and recover the debris once all cars had passed. 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.”
