His immense knowledge will be a useful foil for the new race directors Eduardo Freitas and Niels Wittich. They replace Michael Masi who was promoted unexpectedly to the role following the sudden death of previous incumbent Charlie Whiting – Blash’s long-time sidekick – on the eve of the 2019 Australian GP.
Social media has been ripe with indignation ever since Masi made the call to restart last season’s Abu Dhabi finale in an unconventional manner, but let’s nail one myth: Max Verstappen is not an unworthy champion. Whether he or Lewis Hamilton had taken the title last season, it would have been thoroughly deserved on the basis of their performances over the previous 21 races. The only ‘unworthy’ element was the manner of Verstappen’s coronation.
Would the campaign have ended so messily with Whiting and Blash at the helm? Unlikely. Would teams have been quite so comfortable making so many hectoring radio calls to race control with those two in situ? Also unlikely.
In addition to his experience, Blash embodies two qualities of which F1 has lately been in short supply: credibility and respect.