Liam Lawson under fire after latest claim by Mexico's motorsport authority

Visa Cash App RB driver Liam Lawson had a close call with the marshals at the 2025 Mexico City GP soon after he exited the pitlane. Mexico’s motorsports federation recently came out and took a shot at the Kiwi driver following the close call at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

Liam Lawson had a great start off the line and was battling Carlos Sainz into Turn 1. However, the Spaniard failed to leave enough space and turned into the VCARB driver, which caused significant damage to the Kiwi’s car, pushing Lawson to pit for repairs.

As a result of the collision between Sainz and Lawson, along with other incidents in Turn 1, a lot of debris was left in the Turn 1,2 & 3 section at the circuit. As a result, the FIA stewards deployed double-waved yellows in the section so that the marshals could clear the debris.

However, Liam Lawson, who had pitted at the end of Lap 2, came out of the pit lane, and as he went into Turn 1, found a couple of marshals still on the track collecting the debris. This resulted in a close call as the Kiwi driver managed to avoid any incidents. The same led to a furious radio message from the VCARB driver about the marshals being on track.

F1 Grand Prix of United States - Sprint & Qualifying - Source: Getty

The Mexican motorsport federation OMDAI Sport Mexico shared a public release about the incident, and slammed Lawson for maintaining his racing line and not taking any avoiding actions.

“The images clearly show that driver Liam Lawson maintains the steering wheel angle of his car when taking Turn 1, without changing his trajectory, even though the track marshals were crossing the track to return to their post. This action occurs while personnel were still working in the area, which shows that the driver did not Interrupt his line despite the obvious presence of marshals on the track,” read the press release

The FIA also released a statement about the same after the race, which suggested that “the instructions to dispatch marshals were rescinded” once Lawson pitted. The FIA is still investigating the incident.

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Liam Lawson’s reaction to the close call with marshals at the 2025 Mexican GP

Liam Lawson spoke with the media after the race and detailed how the incident was unacceptable. He had already taken to the team radio during the race after the incident and furiously suggested that someone could've been seriously injured.

“I honestly couldn't believe what I was seeing.I got to Turn 1 and there were two dudes just running across the track. And 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, I've only seen that in the past. It's pretty unacceptable,” said Liam Lawson

The New Zealander was eventually forced to retire from the race as a result of the damage taken by the VCARB following the Lap 1 incident

Edited by Pranay Bhagi