Honda could sell F1 team
December 5, 2008 by Matt Brogan
Rumours abound this morning that Honda is trying to sell its F1 team, but will bow out next season is no buyer is found by the end of the month.
Honda recently cut vehicle production due to the economic downturn and it is alleged are now selling off the team in a bid to save a further $500 million per year.
We expect an official announcement at 4pm today and will do our best to keep you up-to-date. If the Honda team folds, the 2009 season will start with only nine teams and 18 cars. Two teams and four cars fewer than this year. Stay tuned!
Print it: 
Honda weren’t at the rear… Force India and Super Aguri (before they folded) had a monopoly on last few places…
Honda was near the rear though…
But who will fill the rear of the grid?
:)
Who cares?
Didnt Honda’s founder start with F1 cars? Also allot of what Honda learns on the track ends up in the production cars. Will it effect technolagy advancment?
Have a look at the top of the page:
http://www.honda.com.au/wps/wc.....on/racing/
Well then. I guess we will know at 4.00pm today. It will be like selling your heritage, most of the marketing is F1 related.
i doubt quitting F1 will have much impact on technology advancement. Most of F1 technologies aren’t directly transferred to road cars, and though it’s sad to see Honda quitting F1, i believe it is the right choice given the current economic condition.
Unlucky for Ross Brawn though, only his first year at Honda F1
Hahaha
acilk – Super Aguri were the Honda B team, and Force India is a first year upstart using an old Spyker chasis.
To be even close to them is shameful.
Just further on the Salesmans comment, I do hope this will bring to an end the annoying ‘F1′ cars at the end of their advertisements, particularly when advertising something as lame as a Jazz or an Odyssey
Jenson Button will be stuffed. He tied his mast to Honda with big expectations for next season.
I know Tom. They were easily the worst Manufacturer team.
I’m interested to see how Force India do in 09 with Merc engine McLaren gearbox. Probably still won’t do well considering they were last with Ferrari Engines
Jensen Button won’t be a loss for F1, especially now the British press have their new super hero world champion. The biggest question of all will be, where will Ross Brawn and co. end up?
Personally, I hope Honda stay.
Tom who will fill the rear of the grid………..Toyota !
Ferrari,BMW and Merc………the only real 3 players. I guess if it comes down to these 3 in another 12 months,{Toyota will pull the pin next}then I guess they will always be on the podium for one of the places!
Combine this with the slow down of factories and it shows that all is not well in Japans number 2 manufacturer. Seems everyone is feeling the pinch.
Salesman, Soichiro Honda started in motorbikes, and Honda has always had a thing for motorbikes, like the whole engines running backwards thing.
Little of what Honda does in F1 impacts their road car development program. Little of what any team in F1 does impacts their road cars, including Ferrari. The technology in Ferraris is “F1 inspired”, but it’s significantly altered to be road-viable.
Honda F1’s main problem this year was a chassis problem. The engine is fine, car is fairly quick on the straight, but through corners it couldn’t carry any speed. They were meant to be making major changes for the 2009 season.
Also, Super Aguri was not a Honda B team, they just used Honda engines, and an old Honda chassis, and got huge loans from Honda. They were kinda always doomed.
Bavarian, don’t count out Red Bull Racing. With Vettel onboard they should be in for a good season. Plus, from a funding point of view, Red Bull is in a much better position to maintain a fully running F1 team then any of the other companies, especially given they currently run two.
Frontman I’m not sure this shows Honda is suffering, probably just realising that an F1 team is huge and unnecessary cost. Which in the current economic situation might not be best for the company.
F1 itself is doomed. Look at the number of circuits that can no longer afford Bernie’s ridiculous demands, the number of events that can no longer attract enough paying spectators, the number of TV viewers who are switching off, the number of teams that will not accept the lack of marketability surrounding the dumb idea of standardized engines. Combine all this with the evaporation of sponsors in the unfolding economic scenario and the whole charade is going to fall over.
As usual, Honda is leading the market rather than following, and they are not too proud to make a very painful decision just before the Brawn-inspired car made its debut.
Quite right Captain. This should sort old Bernie out the greedy little ****. There was talk few years back of the Chinese trying to get an alternative to F1 off the ground. Can’t blame Honda in saving $500M, F1 is a two horse race anyway.
I doubt very little of what Honda learns on the track makes its way in to its cars.. the closest they have come was possibly the S2000.
I mean the world’s wealthiest car manufacturer Toyota likes to make us believe that its “Goal Post Shifiting” Aurion has an engine that is inspired by [derived from] F1 yet it doesn’t sound like a swarm of killer wasps… not only that but I have never seen an FWD car in F1.
I’m not disappointed that Honda has pulled out of F1.What I would like to happen is for F1 to DIE!!!.I know it may seem strange to say that but Bernie,the FIA and it ’s head Mosley have bitten off more than they can chew.
F1 teams cannot sustain the never ending rule changes that have been costing millions.I would love other major teams to pull out and maybe,just maybe a a reborn F1 may emerge without that dictator and little muppet controlling the new series.