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Ferry_vO
December 4th, 2008, 13:37
http://formula-one.speedtv.com/article/f1-honda-tipped-for-withdrawal/

"Honda Racing is expected to make an announcement on Friday morning UK time that it is withdrawing from grand prix racing as a works team – and possibly shuttering its team outright.

Amid the worldwide financial downturn and the impact that has had on Honda’s car sales, it is understood that the Brackley, UK-based team’s future is now in serious doubt. Insiders have told autosport.com that the team’s senior staff were called to a meeting at the factory on Thursday afternoon and informed that Honda in Japan were no longer willing to bankroll the outfit.

It is suggested that the team will be put up for sale – as Ford did with its Jaguar team, subsequently purchased by Red Bull – but if no buyer is found by March then the manufacturer will simply pull the plug and withdraw from the sport. In the current financial climate, it is unclear where Honda Racing would hope to find a buyer willing to support a Formula 1 team with budgets already in excess of $140 million per year….

There are suggestions that Honda could be willing to offload the team free of charge to anyone willing to support it and that the manufacturer might be willing to continue to supply engines for a period of time until another technical partner is found. However, sources have suggested that team principal Ross Brawn is already eyeing a tie-up with his former team, Ferrari, for engines should a buyer be found. The Italian manufacturer has spare capacity now after ending its deal with Force India.

It is understood that Brawn and F1 CEO Nick Fry are scheduled to fly to meetings in Tokyo on Monday to discuss the future of the team with Honda bosses, and to define what happens if no buyer is found.

Honda Racing remained silent about the speculation on Thursday evening, with neither public relations staff nor senior team personnel available for comment. It is understood the staff informed of the decision were told not to discuss the matter prior to an official announcement being made.

It is expected Honda will issue a press release early on Friday morning revealing the company's plans. It comes after a challenging year for the team, which had begun a rebuilding process under the leadership of Brawn.

Any pullout by Honda Racing will send shockwaves through F1, and cast question marks over the future of other manufacturers’ long-term participation. It would also come several months after FIA president Max Mosley warned that the sport was unsustainable at the moment because of the high costs needed to compete. It would also mean a reduction in the size of the the grid to just 18 cars, and would leave drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello without seats, while removing what would appear to be Bruno Senna's best hope of moving up to F1 next year. "

:jawdrop::eek::isadizzy: Definitely did not see this one coming.......


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Tako_Kichi
December 4th, 2008, 14:45
Definitely did not see this one coming.......
Nor did I! :isadizzy:

This will certainly have long ranging repercussions.

Ferry_vO
December 4th, 2008, 15:57
http://f1.uk.reuters.com/f1/news/India-368771-2.php

"LONDON (Reuters) - Honda are pulling out of Formula One and will close their team down if no buyer is found by the end of the year, a senior source at a rival team told Reuters on Thursday.

"They have a month to find a buyer, otherwise they are closing the team," the source quoted Honda team bosses Ross Brawn and Nick Fry as telling a meeting of the Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA).

"It's very, very sad for Formula One to see a team with the heritage of Honda leaving the sport," added the source, adding it was no real surprise given the team "were running up costs to a level that were self-evidently unsustainable".

Another source said the staff were told they would be on three months' notice from January if no buyer was found. The season starts in Australia on March 29."

I wonder who on earth will buy an F1 team within a month in these financially uncertain times.. ? The only one that comes to mind at the moment might be Prodrive/Dave Richards perhaps?

wombat666
December 4th, 2008, 19:32
Honda poised to quit Formula One

The Japanese company hopes to sell its team, which costs £200m a year to run, but is prepared to close the team early in 2009 if no buyer is found.
Sources told BBC Sport the team were "optimistic" they would continue, but an investor had yet been found.
According to the Reuters news agency, team bosses Ross Brawn and Nick Fry fear Honda could close the Brackley-based operation within weeks.<!-- E SF -->
According to a Reuters source, Brawn and Fry told a meeting of the Formula One Teams' Association: "They have a month to find a buyer, otherwise they are closing the team."<!-- Inline Embbeded Media --> <!-- This is the embedded player component -->
Honda appointed Brawn, the man who masterminded seven world titles for Michael Schumacher, as their team principal prior to the start of the 2008 season.
Briton Jenson Button, who drives for the Honda team, will be left unattached for the 2009 season if the team folds, though some places with mid-ranking teams remain.
After recently cutting road vehicle production as a response to the global economic crisis, Honda is expected to make an announcement regarding the team's future early on Friday.
A notoriously expensive sport in which to compete, F1 teams have spent recent months in intensive discussions over cost-cutting measures.
Max Mosley, president of world motorsport governing body the FIA, recently urged teams to find ways to reduce costs. "Formula One is becoming unsustainable," said Mosley in July.
"The major manufacturers are currently employing up to 1,000 people to put two cars on the grid. This is clearly unacceptable at a time when all these companies are facing tough market conditions."
In October, a deal was reached to reduce costs for smaller teams in 2009 and 2010.
Considered a major player within Formula One, Honda bankrolls more than 800 staff at the team's Northamptonshire base and has the largest budget in the sport.
"I am told that for £1 you can now buy the Honda F1 team," said BBC sports news correspondent Adam Parsons.
BBC Radio 5 Live's F1 commentator, David Croft, said Honda's withdrawal could have profound consequences for the sport.

"This has serious implications for F1, not just because there will be only 18 cars on the grid," said Croft. "It's the start of the sport as a whole feeling the pinch. Williams are reported to be in financial difficulties, Toyota are trimming down their budget as well.
"Honda are a car company whose sales have dropped by 41% in the last quarter, they're closing their Swindon factory for two months at the start of next year, and obviously feeling the pinch on a global scale."
In November, Honda announced it would build fewer cars in Japan, Europe and the United States to reflect bleak economic prospects in the vehicle manufacturing industry.
Sales of new cars in the UK suffered their biggest monthly drop in 28 years, while carmakers Ford, GM and Chrysler have asked the US Congress for multi-billion dollar loans to guarantee their survival.
The last team to leave Formula One were Honda-backed minnows Super Aguri, which folded for financial reasons in April.
Honda's own F1 team endured a deeply disappointing 2008 season on the track, earning just 14 points, leaving them the lowest of the nine points-scoring teams.
Button found himself ranked 18th in the drivers' list, contributing only three points.
Only four drivers, each without a point to their name, ranked below him. Team-mate Rubens Barrichello earned the remaining 11 points.
Honda initially entered F1 as a constructor in the 1960s, withdrawing at the end of 1968.
<!-- S IBOX -->
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</td> </tr> </tbody></table>The company returned to F1 in the 1980s as an engine supplier and then purchased a stake in the BAR team from British American Tobacco (BAT) in 2004. Honda bought out BAT in 2005 to form the Honda team for the 2006 season.
While the team finished fourth in the 2006 constructors' championship, they have subsequently struggled to make an impact.
The 2009 Formula One season begins on 29 March, in Australia.

:isadizzy:
<!-- S IBOX --> Seems we have all been caught out by this development, but I must say it comes as no suprise.
Japan is in a reccession, and as I've pointed out on before, when car sales go through the floor the first big reductions will be in Motorsport!
How about Max and Bernie digging out the funds required from their own ill-gotten gains!
The 'Domino Effect' should come into play about now, Honda out, followed by Toyota/Williams, BMW, Benz ...............:kilroy:

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Panther_99FS
December 4th, 2008, 20:37
Time for Eddie Jordan & Paul Stoddard to team up in the IRL & hire Jenson Button....

lefty
December 4th, 2008, 22:39
Honda president has ruled out supplying engines to anybody. So that's that.

Poor old Jenson, he always rather fancied himself too - can't even get a commentating job, D.C.'s grabbed that.

That is, if there's anything left to commentate on. The whole thing has become a silly, vastly inflated charade. I have loved motor racing since the fifties, but this branch of the sport is disappearing very swiftly up its own rectum.

wombat666
December 5th, 2008, 06:47
A1GP just keeps looking better and better with each round!
Interesting spin on the 'sale' of Honda, if some idiot buys the team it would be sans engines ..........:kilroy:
With Toyota highly probable to follow Honda, and perhaps taking the same line, that would signal the demise of Williams unless some hasty engine supply deals could be made.
That would leave 14 cars on the list.

Given that Germany is in a recession, this might start the Daimler Benz bean-counters looking into the waste of large amounts of Euros on a costly 'PR Exercise', followed by a similar investigation in Bavaria.
And we all know the President of Renault has stated very firmly that renault will remain in EffWun for as long as it benefits Renault.

So the '010 grid could well be down to 4 cars ........ :applause:

Ferry_vO
December 5th, 2008, 12:39
Hmm...

A1GP never made a profit so far...
F1 lost two teams in one season with others with an uncertain future..
Superleague Formula still has a very unstable financial base..
IRL is not looking good if Honda retreats from that class as well...

Might be a good time to rename GP2 to F1 in 2010?