Ex-team boss reveals details of F1 legend's SHOCK departure from team

Niki Lauda

Ex-team boss reveals details of F1 legend's SHOCK departure from team

Herbie Blash tells tale of how Niki Lauda suddenly left Brabham in 1979

Lauren Sneath

Tuesday 8 August 2023 09:57 Updated: 10:39

Herbie Blash has detailed Niki Lauda’s dramatic departure from Brabham in 1979 and the driver’s shock return to the grid with McLaren.

Blash, then a team manager at Brabham, spoke of his surprise at the moment when Lauda told him of his plans to leave, at the Canadian Grand Prix in 1979.

Lauda had been signed to Brabham in 1978 on a big contract, as the team’s number one driver, but only a year later was determined to take a break from the sport entirely.

Article continues under video

Asked about the moment in Montreal that he was told that Lauda wanted to leave, Blash explained how it played out on F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast.

“I think it was after the first practice session," he said. "He got me to walk down with him because back in those days we used to be based about 400 yards away where the boat sheds were in Montreal at the bottom of the lake.

“We had a small motorhome there and he was asking me where Bernie was. As we were walking down, he said, ‘I'm not getting back in the car, you know that don’t you?’

“I said ‘what?!’ He said ‘no I've had enough. I'm going to go and buy that aeroplane'.”

Herbie Blash was Brabham team manager when Niki Lauda drove there

“Now, just before we get back to the motorhome with Bernie," Blash continued. "I knew the chief training captain for British Caledonian and he arranged, when we were racing at Long Beach, to go to the McDonnell Douglas factory.

“I went with Niki and we managed to get him into a simulator. We met someone who had been to the moon and driving back, Niki said to me, ‘I'm going to buy one of those.’ And it was a laugh and a joke.

“Then when we were walking down, that's when he said to me, ‘I'm going to buy that aeroplane,’ which, needless to say, that's exactly what he did. That was the start of Lauda Air. But anyway, we arrived down into the caravan, walked in and he told Bernie that was it.”

Ecclestone caught unawares

Asked if he thought Ecclestone was expecting Lauda to cut ties, Blash said: “No, I don't think so. But Bernie is also such a cool customer that you would never tell.”

Describing the surreal nature of the exchange between the driver and Ecclestone, he added: “It wasn't a very long conversation but I remember Bernie saying, ‘Well, leave your overalls and helmet here because I've got to find someone to drive the car.’

“And there was Ricardo Zunino outside. Lo and behold, he was a Formula 1 driver and Niki literally just walked out. Nobody knew what was going on. Niki changed and just disappeared.”

From colleague to rival

Blash also discussed his disappointment when Lauda returned to the grid with a different team in 1982.

Lauda rejoined F1 with McLaren, going to win his third and final world title with the team and earning a salary of $3m, which was unprecedented in the sport at the time.

“I was disappointed because I would have liked him to have come back with us, and especially that it was our other driver, his ex-team mate John Watson, with him," he admitted.

“I was very close to John and very, very close to Niki. Especially when they were winning races, that really hurt because we were going through a bit of a hard time ourselves.”