Former team boss reveals 'NUMBER ONE' driver he worked with

Herbie Blash has said that Niki Lauda was the number one driver he worked with during his time in Formula 1, calling the Austrian an ‘all-rounder’.

Blash, a senior advisor to the FIA race directors, is also a former team manager and was at another time a deputy race director.

He was team manager at Brabham during Lauda’s period with the team from 1978 to 1979, and has said in an interview with F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast that the three-time world champion was ‘number one’ out of the many drivers he worked with.

Also in the mix when discussing the ‘best’ driver Blash had worked with was John Watson, who won five grands prix over his career and had a best result of P3 in the 1982 championship.

Though Blash noted that Watson, Lauda’s 1978 team-mate, was another ‘quick’ driver who sometimes out-performed Lauda, the latter was more of an ‘all-rounder’.

Asked if Lauda was the best driver he had ever worked with, Blash explained: “He was maybe the most intelligent. John Watson was a quick driver and when he was driving alongside Niki, he was often quicker.

“Very difficult to say but, as an all-rounder, maybe Niki was number one out of the drivers that I've actually worked with.”

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