Laurent Mekies has already explained why losing Max Verstappen would hurt Red Bull so much

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Laurent Mekies revealed all the things that Max Verstappen brings to Red Bull beyond his performances on the track.

News of Verstappen seriously considering retirement broke in the immediate aftermath of the Japanese Grand Prix, as his frustration with the new regulations reached a fever pitch.

Verstappen has a three-month window to activate his exit clause this year, which could leave Red Bull in a difficult position.

Verstappen is reportedly eyeing a return to pure racing, and there is speculation that he is leveraging the threat of retirement to convince Formula One officials to seriously consider changing the regulations.

F1 officials won’t want to lose Verstappen anytime soon. But given Laurent Mekies’ recent comments about how much Max Verstappen does for Red Bull, they have even more to lose if he walks away.

READ MORE: Red Bull could pay Max Verstappen £60m not to race in F1 in 2027 even though he might never return

Laurent Mekies explains how ‘natural’ Max Verstappen is as a leader at Red Bull

Speaking on the Behind The Grid podcast, Laurent Mekies was asked about what Max Verstappen brings to Red Bull beyond his incredible driving ability.

Mekies noted that Verstappen is a natural leader for the team, and his ability to rally the rest of the team and get them motivated to give it their all when working on the car is absolutely unparalleled.

“I still can’t decide if it is a conscious or unconscious skill that he has. But Max has this natural way to get people around him to understand what is important for him in the car. And what is, according to him, the biggest lap time reservoir that are untapped around him.

“He knows that when he speaks into a debriefing, there’s 30 engineers around him in the room, but also all the ones that are connected back in the factory in Milton Keynes. He has this natural way to drag everyone behind him, to get people to give 101%.

“It’s something to be fast in the car. It’s something else to be outside of the car and to manage to get your team, your people, to give their very best in trying to understand, to solve the limitations that you have. It’s very nice to say now in a quiet room.

“But for him… It can be a qualifying session, it can be a race that could have had a bad or a good outcome… To be able to do that with the level of discipline he has, with the level of cold feedback he’s able to give, is outstanding.

“If you come to one of the debriefings we have after our sessions, after qualifying, after the race, you would not be able to understand from his tone of voice if it was a win or if it was a DNF that you won’t forget about.

“Because he will describe it with the same intensity, he will analyse the issue and the limitations with the same discipline, whether he has won the race or whether he has been outperformed by competition.”

READ MORE: Max Verstappen held ‘unprecedented’ meeting with Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies on 12-hour flight

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Laurent Mekies believes Max Verstappen can be an excellent future team principal

Speaking further about Verstappen’s passion for Formula One, he noted that his drive to be involved in all aspects of the sport will set him up for a stellar future career in Formula One, especially as team principal.

“The biggest surprise is how deep the connection between Max and motorsport is. He’s not just a Formula One driver. He lives night and day for the sport. He completely understands the complex dynamics of a Formula One car and a Formula One team.

“You leave him with a few hours of freedom, he will go and race on the simulator. You give him a few days of freedom, he will go and race whatever he can find on the planet.

“And having somebody like that, that can support you in driving the car development, especially through the new regulations like the ones we have today, is a huge advantage.”

“I’m sure he could be an excellent team principal one day and that probably applies to many other different jobs in motorsport.”

Mekies shut down any talk of Verstappen retiring, although that may have been for diplomatic purposes to avoid rampant speculation that could damage the team.

But it is clear that, despite all the issues, Red Bull hold Verstappen in the highest regard, and want to keep him with them for as long as possible.