Herbie Blash has given his opinion about his career, his start in the industry, the English era in Formula 1, his relationship with Bernie Ecclestone, and his role as an FIA deputy.
Blash gave the interview for the weekly podcast on Formula 1 official website and spoke about everything following his wonderful career. He commented on his 50 years in the business which seems to be quite a short time, when you turn back to his first days in Lotus.
Herbie Blash described it as a work to which he is dedicated in detail and says that he focused just like the first day and loves this sport the same as when he started.
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“Although I’m not going to all of the races, I follow every practice session, every qualifying, read about it every day. But the old days were a lot more fun. The politics never existed as such. The teams were very small. Everybody knew everybody and it really was a family.”
“Going back to the ‘70’s, for example, the whole team, the whole of Formula 1, including the drivers, we’d all be on the same aeroplane. So it was very small. When you look today, maybe two teams is the equivalent to what the whole of the Formula 1 paddock used to be back in its day.”
Formula 1, his pure passion…
Asked by the journalist what kept him intrigued all the time he answered in a stylish manner.
“It’s just pure passion. When I look back and think ‘why did I have an interest in racing?’ I remember when I was in my primary school at the age of eight, and we used to have these films once a term and they were the old Shell films, which showed Tazio Nuvolari etc. I used to get so excited and then I started to read about it, and that’s where my passion started.”
“No, obviously I wanted to be a driver. I also remember there was a little go-kart manufacturing company that was based in Leatherhead. I used to go there and stand looking over the fence with my mouth wide open, just hoping that one day I could actually sit in a kart and I had that opportunity, I think when I was about ten years old. Always wanted to be a driver, but unfortunately never had the finances. To be honest, I know I would not have been good enough. I did try, but not successfully.”
Blash remembered the first race he saw and the emotions he had before being part of Lotus and how he saw everything as a young boy. Then came Lotus Period and his career faced a major change. Blash remembers his meeting with Ecclestone, his work with Colin Chapman and Niki Lauda.
Herbie Blash describes Liberty Media as the future and tells with a bit of a joke that he is a six-wheeler when he was asked if he was a car man or a bike man.
