Racing Bulls reveal 'sad' Red Bull axe effect on Liam Lawson

Racing Bulls CEO Peter Bayer has dismissed the suggestion Liam Lawson returned to the team bereft of confidence - but did concede the New Zealander was 'a bit sad and puzzled' after his brief experience at Red Bull.

The 23-year-old was demoted from the Milton Keynes squad just two rounds into the current F1 season after failing to score a point in either Melbourne or Shanghai and suffering a single-lap deficit of around eight-tenths of a second to Max Verstappen.

The six-time constructors' champion felt it best to cut his time with the team sooner rather than later, parachuting in Yuki Tsunoda to replace him, meaning Lawson returned to Faenza to partner Isack Hadjar.

After stepping up to Red Bull after a mere 11 grand prix starts, the feeling within the team was that it was too much, too soon, with Christian Horner citing a "duty of care" towards Lawson.

Helmut Marko suggested his confidence had been destroyed, something Bayer was quick to quash ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Asked whether Lawson had returned the same driver as before, or if he was lacking confidence, speaking to media, including RacingNews365, Bayer said: "Confidence? No. Honestly, I think it took a moment for him to digest [what happened].

"[The] 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 by everything that happened very quickly."

Returning to his former self

Whilst Lawson has not immediately wrestled the impetus from Hadjar upon returning to Red Bull's second team, and is adrift of his less-experienced team-mate across a single lap and in race trim, Bayer sees signs of the driver he worked with last season.

"But also, at the same time, he knew the people, the tools, the set-up," the Austrian added. "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."