The shock of Cyril Blais death will tear through the Formula E paddock at Tokyo this week, a venue where he tasted some of his and the MSG teams greatest triumphs.
The shattering news that Blais died suddenly last week will still be incredibly raw by the time the teams enter the paddock on Wednesday. While the upset will be substantial there should also be opportunity and time , through the inevitable tears, for tribute and remembrance to recall a man who was one of the most genuinely likeable and admired personalities in the Formula E paddock.
“We had so many special moments that connected us,” recalled Maximilian Guenther, who worked with Blais in F2 and at the Maserati MSG team.
“We had a lot of laughing and just nice private moments. I am grateful to have had this time with Cyril together and I will carry these times with me. I’m very, very grateful to have known and worked with him.”
Blais ascent from engineer to Team Principal was far from a new trajectory that was ascended. But in some ways Blais seemed, at first, a somewhat unlikely choice for an out-and-out team leader.
He soon proved that to be a completely inaccurate forecast. Especially after he led the Maserati MSG squad to victory at Tokyo in March of 2024 with his former GP2 charge Maximilian Guenther.
The previous year had seen a tempestuous time for the MSG element of that team. Uncertainty, confusion and at times frankly a mess of an ownership situation had inadvertently applied extra pressure on Blais’ broad shoulders.
Yet, this was dealt with in a quietly determined way, one in which was entirely in keeping with Blais’ own values of knuckling down to hard work and making the very best of every circumstance and every little opportunity he could see for the team.
“There was this kind of real family feeling in in the team because they had all gone through a bit of a tough, well, financial situation, and he it was always very very positive to make sure that people kept being happy and being motivated. He protected them when he needed to,” Stoffel Vandoorne told FEN.
Blais outlook was far from a hollow or a forced happy and go-lucky demeanour. He was a practical achiever, one who would actually prefer to shy away from the limelight. You always had the impression that Cyril would choose not to be on the podium himself, rather that he’d prefer his whole team to be up there, while he enjoyed watching them celebrate below.
I have talked to and know well several drivers that were engineered by Blais. Their tributes and searing sadness at Blais’ untimely death will be seen shortly. Among them are Alex Lynn, Maximilian Guenther and Norman Nato. There will be 024 champion Pascal Wehrlein’s too.
All of them consistently state that Blais was one of the best engineers and best human beings they ever worked with. Each won EPrixs and one went on to win a title (Wehrlein), all the while Blais would have just quietly acknowledged and relished the relationship he had with each, rather than extoll any particular boast or achievement they enjoyed together.
A process man, who in fact loved to use the word ‘process’ Blais also had a very firm sense of humour. Subtle and occasionally wonderfully irreverent, he laughed loudly when I jokingly called the team ‘Le Blais-ing Squad’ at Mexico City in 2025.
The knowing wink, the quiet confidence, the crafty back of the pit cigarette, that almost baritone voice and the adjustment of the lunettes has gone now. Those little characteristics, so admired and loved, will be missed by so many. But like Cyril Blais they will never be forgotten.
