Ex-team boss reveals how he and Ecclestone dealt with F1 TRAGEDY

Herbie Blash

Ex-team boss reveals how he and Ecclestone dealt with F1 TRAGEDY

Herbie Blash discusses how death of Jochen Rindt affected him

Lauren Sneath

Saturday 5 August 2023 18:57

Herbie Blash has explained how he and Bernie Ecclestone had’ clear everything up’ after Jochen Rindt’s tragic death during a practice session for the 1970 Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

The Team Lotus driver, only 28 when he died after crashing at Monza, was later posthumously awarded first place in the driver’s world championship.

At the time of the incident, Blash was Rindt’s race mechanic and Ecclestone was Rindt’s manager and a partial team owner of Rindt’s Lotus Formula 2 team.

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Blash explained how the aftermath of the fatal incident played out in an interview with F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast, saying that he had to ‘clear everything up’ with Ecclestone.

He even said he considered quitting the sport after the tragedy.

Blash: Rindt accident hit me very hard

Asked if he wanted space from F1 after Rindt’s death, Blash responded: “I did, because I had seen other fatal accidents in Formula 1, with people that I knew. I never forget at Hockenheim having breakfast and then the next day they weren’t there for breakfast.”

Blash also talked through how he dealt with Rindt’s passing, saying: “When it came to Jochen, that did hit me very hard because unfortunately, I was the boy of the team.

“I was just 21 and I had to help Bernie clear everything up. Then I had to take Jochen's car back to his home in Switzerland, loaded with his bits and pieces in from the hotel room."

Bernie Ecclestone worked at Team Lotus in 1970

He added: “I was on my own because Colin [Chapman, team owner] got the team to move out of Italy immediately, because obviously he had been through that situation with Jim Clark and [Wolfgang] Von Trips.”

Blash also explained how the car was impounded after the incident, saying: “And as we know from [Ayrton] Senna, they impound the car and basically you might never get that car back.

“You're not even allowed to go and inspect it to see what might have actually caused the accident.

“So Colin moved the team out and left myself and the one guy that I was working with, Bernie. That was really the start of a close relationship.”