Red Bull reveals Verstappen's key leadership trait powering the team forward

Mekies joined Red Bull Racing after a promotion from Racing Bulls ahead of the 2025 Belgian Grand Prix. The Frenchman replaced the long-serving Christian Horner at the helm of the Austrian team.

When asked on the Beyond the Grid podcast whether Verstappen is a natural leader, Mekies could only confirm that by highlighting the four-time world champion's way of pushing everyone in the same direction and always giving his all.

Mekies began: "I still haven’t decided if it is a conscious or unconscious skills that he has, but he 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.

"And it's very nice to say now in a quiet room, but for him to be able to do that a few minutes after he has driven the car, and it can be a qualifying session, it can be a race that could have had a bad or a good outcome, and 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," the Frenchman praised Verstappen.

Moreover, he also underlined how Verstappen always has the same approach, no matter the result he achieves on track.

He added: "If you come to one of the debriefs we have after our sessions, after qualifying or after the race, you will not be able to understand from his tone of voice if it was a win or if it was a DNF that you want to forget about."

The Dutchman is scheduled to return to the Nordschleife next weekend, where together with his teammate Lucas Auer, he will take on the 'Green Hell' at the 24h Nurburgring Qualifiers.

The F1 season will resume on the first weekend of May with the Miami Grand Prix.