Honda sale

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Some of that "stuff" might actually come back in the wake of this crisis, depending on how committed the other manufacturers will be to F1 in the long term -- which is one thing nobody can or will be able to say right now.

It will be interesting to figure out in time who is potentially interested in buying the current Honda team. I personally think that it won't be car manufacturers in this current climate, so it "should" be someone else / some other company who is interested in something like the current Formula 1.

I've read a good argument somewhere else today, saying that Red Bull's intentions of selling Toro Rosso to someone else sooner or later could be affected or delayed by Honda's exit, because now someone who could previously have had an interest in Toro Rosso might now favour Honda -- if the team's facilities and so on would be regarded higher than Toro Rosso's assets should the team be split from the main Red Bull entity.


What I find a bit more frustrating personally is the thrust that sportscar racing seems to lose for next year, with Audi running their reduced programme, and Porsche effectively pulling out of the RS Spyder programme (although, according to them, that was planned regardless of the current crisis). Maybe there could be further changes to Honda's other racing activities (the Acura project(s), MotoGP) if sales keep going down in the next few months. And with Sebring and Le Mans aside, Peugeot seems like the only works entry now in the prototype classes...

[MaxD]

Greayhead, I can tell you this honestly mate, when my dad told me it had been announced, I said to him "I can't understand this dad, Peugeot make bicycles for heavens sake!" LOL
Mind you, their engines were so poor!

This is what I mean though guys, all those things to look forward to during the off season, and what is there now?

"Press release from Panasonic Toyota"
"We announce that we have nothing to announce for the forthcoming 2009 FIA Formula One Chamionship except that our aims are as ever to improve on our 2008 final standing and we embrace the proposed reduction of costs etc etc..." HOW BORING!!!!!!!!!!

Surely this would be better...

"We at Panasonic Toyota are BLOODY PISSED OFF that we have never won a race despite spending £300m plus annually and to be honest, we don't show any signs of getting better! There's the new car which has the same shite livery as it has had every year since 2003. Oh the drivers aren't that great either and our sponsors are complete morons because they think we'll actually achieve something this year!"

[Greyhead]

Heh heh heh! See, there's one way the manufacturers can make F1 more interesting. Tell the bloody truth! Much more entertaining than the racing. Maybe some of the teams should rope in the likes of Alan Jones to do their press releases.

[MaxD]

Alan Jones would be fantastic!

I have to say though, I'm no longer interested in the sportscar championships myself as they too are dominated it seems by manufactuers.
Now, Indycar racing for me is fantastic! I've interviewed the likes of Mario and Michael Andretti, Dan Wheldon, Darren Manning, Rick Mears, AJ Foyt and others and the one thing they all said was that Indycar is run by people who love the sport for what it is and would NEVER, EVER let a manufactuer come in and start taking over.
NASCAR has had a similar problem to F1 by Toyota's arrival. They are spending may more than ANYOTHER manufactuer and are thus raising the amounts required to maintain top position. The reason they abandoned Indycar for NASCAR?
A bigger audience in which to sell their cars!
I know for a fact, one day when the majority of these companies have left their respective arenas, people will say Jesus, what have wedone, why did we let this happen?!

Still, F1 will always be my first love, I just wish the manufactuers would bugger off and leave it to the enthusiasts...

Good night gentlemen

[V12-Power]

Max, you're so right in what you're saying! I totally agree on that.

But as long as Bernie Ecclestone is "Mister F1", I seriously doubt that real private teams will come back. I think his managment (more money for the successfull teams, less for the backrunners) may be one of the reasons, why so many private teams went bankrupt. And with teams like Brabham, Lotus, Tyrrell or Ligier and even Minardi, F1 lost a lot of history and enthusiasm, that can't be brought back anymore.

[jakesanson]

I have a horrible feeling that this is the beginning of the end.

F1 doesn't have long left to run, unless they allow smaller teams to compete a la 1988-1991. If those days were to return, we might be on to something.

Please let someone find a seat for Jenson. He's 28, has plenty of talent, and doesn't need it to go to waste.

[Moonrakerâ„¢]

With all the crap going around, yes it may be possilbe that manufacturers don´t go full on in.

But maybe people who can make a business out of it will. David Richards may do... did anyone read that story??? - He knows some team members there too.

However.... look, it? at the price of SUBARU leaving WRC. But they may power his team, or provide some help anyway for Prodrive F1 (or maybe Aston Martin F1?).

http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlines/n ... 1824.shtml

http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlines/n ... 4509.shtml

But Peugeot deny intersted - http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlines/n ... 1549.shtml

[Moonrakerâ„¢]

HONDA SAVED!!!!

It's a done deal, just not presented to public "officially" yet.

Jenson Button and Bruno Senna (as sponsored by Embratel) are the drivers.

http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?id=44845

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528, ... 19,00.html

[HF]

HONDA SAVED!!!!

It's a done deal, just not presented to public "officially" yet.

Jenson Button and Bruno Senna (as sponsored by Embratel) are the drivers.

http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?id=44845

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528, ... 19,00.html

I'm sorry but Carlos Slim denied the deal on the website of his company

[HF]

Well, today, after Ferrari said that they are no longer interested in distributing "Hona" with engines. Haug (Mercedes) said that they could distribute them if the financial background is there. What do you think, is there any oppertunity for this?

[DJS]

I don't think the engine will be the problem, it's Nick Fry himself, that is the biggest problem for Honda.
He's scaring everybody away, even Ferrari.

[jakesanson]

I think the future of F1 is dependent on whether or not Honda finds a buyer. F1 is currently in limbo waiting to see what happens, and if there's no buyer I think F1 in its current form may be dead.

So at least Lewis Hamilton became champion before it happened....

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I think there is every opportunity of such a deal happening. The prevalent question is whether or not the team can find a buyer. Once that's in place, finding someone to supply engines shouldn't be the most difficult problem - especially since every of them will have some capacities "free" after how long the individual engines are supposed to be run has been extended for 2009...