F1 star left stunned as race bosses call him out publicly over dangerous situation

Liam Lawson has declared himself "extremely surprised" by the public statement which pinned blame on him for his scary near-miss with two marshals at the Mexico City Grand Prix. Last month's race was marred by the incident which saw the marshals run across track in front of his Racing Bulls car under racing conditions.

The marshals had been initially asked to clear debris from the first corner once all cars on track had passed through early in the race, but that order was rescinded as soon as it was realised that Lawson had pitted for a change of front wing. The end result was the New Zealander having to take avoiding action when he rounded turn one to see the two people on track ahead of him.

The FIA said in the hours after the race that it was investigating what had gone wrong, but the story took a twist last week when OMDAI, the FIA-sanctioned Mexican motorsport governing body, issued a bizarre statement blaming Lawson for contributing to the danger. The FIA was then quick to put out a statement of its own in which it was made clear: "Liam Lawson is not at fault in this incident."

Asked ahead of this weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix for his reaction to those statements, Lawson said: "I was very surprised. I think the FIA's statement was very clear and accurate. I don't really need to say too much more than what was put in that statement.

"It was obviously checked into, everything that led to that happening, to the fact that they got caught out there, and everything I did in the car to obviously slow down and avoid them, and take a completely different line to what I've taken through the entire weekend. But yes, I was extremely surprised. Still am very surprised."

Lawson retired from the race with damage and so the incident played no part in his end result. Still, he spoke with representatives of the FIA after the race to go over what had happened, having been left concerned by a situation which could have had fatal consequences had something gone wrong.

Lawson added: "I had a talk with them and I appreciated that a lot. I do understand we're in a sport with a huge amount of variables and these things, as much as they can't happen again, they shouldn't happen.

"There's always a possibility of something like this and, obviously, what's most important is that the action is taken now to prevent it. So I didn't have a problem with any of that - it was just the statement that came out, trying to accuse me of doing something [that he took exception to]."