Lawson was first “puzzled”, but he quickly returned “being the old Liam,” claims Bayer

Following his return to the Faenza-based outfit, Liam Lawson was “sad and puzzled”, but he has returned “being the old Liam”, claims Racing Bulls’ CEO Peter Bayer.

Racing Bulls has endured an action-packed season so far. The Faenza-based team raced under the Visa Cash RB moniker last year, but it reestablished itself as Racing Bulls for the current season.

The Italian squad started the season with a new driver line-up. While Yuki Tsunoda commenced his fifth season with the team, former F2 driver Isack Hadjar joined the Japanese racer as Liam Lawson was promoted to Red Bulls.

However, with the Kiwi having struggled for outright pace in the opening two season, Red Bull made the shock decision to partner Tsunoda with Max Verstappen and demote Lawson back to the Faenza-based team.

The Italian squad finds itself in eighth place in the teams’ standings, having scored points only two times so far in 2025 courtesy of Hadjar and Tsunoda. The French driver finished eighth in Japan and tenth last time out in Jeddah to score a total of five points while the Japanese racer collected three points with his sixth-place finish in the Shanghai F1 Sprint.

Reflecting on the Faenza-based squad’s season so far, Racing Bulls CEO Peter Bayer stated: “So my season started a bit earlier, at the F1 75 event, where we won the prize for the best livery, which we are extremely grateful to our fans for.

“And then honestly, Laurent and the team, they also managed to unlock some pace in the car, which we’ve seen in Melbourne and continuing from there.

“We had our ups and downs. We had points at hand and perhaps took a bit too much risk on the strategy side. But at the same time, we’re also happy with how Isack is developing as a young driver who didn’t have a lot of time in an F1 car coming from F2. He has unlocked a lot of potential on and off track. We’re very happy with how he’s developing.

“And also, welcoming Liam back to the team has been a pleasant experience, ultimately. We knew him well. He’s in a good space, he’s happy, he’s motivated, he’s looking forward to racing. He also showed some pace in Bahrain – in Q1, I think he had sector times close to Isack in Sector 1 and Sector 3. So yeah, we’re confident we’ll have a good racing campaign from here.”

Asked whether Lawson is the same driver that left Racing Bulls at the end of last season or he is lacking a bit of confidence still, Bayer noted that the Kiwi needed some time to digest the setback, but he has regained his confidence since.

“Honestly, I think it took a moment for him to digest. First time I saw him when he came to Italy, he looked a bit sad. Honestly, that’s how I perceived him.

“He was a bit puzzled with everything that happened very quickly. But also, at the same time, he knew the people, the tools, the set-up. And I really felt that very quickly he was returning to being the old Liam. He’s a great racer, somebody that has great humour, and that’s what we see now again.”

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