Perhaps you missed the part where vod enquired?
He was merely asking what pronouns to call Lauda, without implying that Lauda's gender was in any way a "pretence" or "deceptive", or even that he cares about it at all beyond what word should be used to describe it.
Lauda's gender doesn't matter to me,
He says it bothers him not knowing now he knows... I was merely being helpful.