Racing Bulls boss Laurent Mekies has rejected the idea that the team 'rebuilt' Liam Lawson following his brutal axe from Red Bull.
New Zealander Lawson started the 2025 season alongside Max Verstappen at Red Bull, but was dropped after just two races in Australia and China, with Yuki Tsunoda taking his seat at the senior team as Lawson returned to Racing Bulls.
Lawson has been comprehensively outperformed by new team-mate Isack Hadjar, who holds a 0.474s average qualifying advantage and leads 7-1 across all sessions, including the Miami sprint, with Lawson only ahead in Saudi Arabia.
He scored his first points of the season with eighth place in Monaco, and just missed out on another in Barcelona, finishing 11th, just behind the penalised Max Verstappen.
Lawson is growing in confidence in the Racing Bulls car, something Mekies highlights as the key factor behind an upturn in form, rather than anything the team has done.
"No, it is not us rebuilding Liam," Mekies told Sky Sports F1 when asked if the team had rebuilt Lawson's confidence.
"Liam got here, he had to jump in the car, and in-season, that is very difficult, and it was difficult for Yuki to go [to Red Bull], it is difficult to jump into a car he has not driven at all.
"So it took some time, not so much to rebuild the confidence, but to actually get used to our car, and the lap-time is being unlocked at every race.
"But again, I would not call it confidence. I would say it is just him getting on top of the car, being more and more comfortable in it and being able to push in it."
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