Will this be the first of many?

LONDON, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Honda have put their Formula One team up for sale and will close it 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).

Motor racing-Honda given a month to sell F1 team or close | Sports | Formula 1 | Reuters&

Ha, maybe Skoda will put a bid in!?

Given your earlier post about the state of the car industry, I suppose an only-moderately-successful F1 team is a pretty expensive hobby. Not bothered directly (can't stand F1 TBH), but what the story represents can't be good... :(

Sales of the Mini down by over 50% and other BMW cars down by 48% ...some of the highest figures in the industry.....and I'll bet Honda aren't far behind that so "hobbies" like F1 are going to be a no no

And if the proposed points system comes into play I can only see things getting worse. :(

Toyota next to go.

Good to be honest.... I do find F1 boring and full of pre-madonnas. BTCC on the other hand is so much better...... discuss ;-)

Edited 4 December, 200817 yr by auroan

Thats F1 up the ying yang then.....

F1 RIP 1950-1980ish

in coma for 28 years...

life support switched off Xmas 2008

F1 used to be about teams and drivers. In the sixties the teams were Lotus, BRM, Tyrell, Mclaren, Brabham, Ferrari etc. In the sixties the only two teams that made road cars as well as F1 race cars were Ferrari & lotus, Honda joined in for a while in the sixties, Mercedes and Alfa were there in the fifties.

Now we have the likes of Honda, Toyota, Mercedes, BMW, Renault who I get the feeling are there to advertise their brands. If the big manufactures walk away because they can't afford it any more F1 might change for the better.

toyota is the richest car brand in the world, bar none...... so who,s leaving f1?

Sad news, especially since they just got their hands on Ross Brawn.

In the current climate, I can't see anyone buying them/taking them on.

The BBC are reporting that all the teams 800 empolyees will receive a letter warning them of redundancy before Christmas. The also recckon it could impact on 200 jobs of companies that supply the team. The Honda budget was £300m a year, so I guess the accountants looked at that and saw a way of making a saving,

toyota is the richest car brand in the world, bar none...... so who,s leaving f1?

Maybe they want to keep it that way

Toyota maybe the richest, but they are far from the most profitable, that honor goes to Porsche.

I can't imagine the potential points system helps - Honda would be in danger of finishing the whole season scoring zero and that isn't a good return on their money when times are tight.

The whole championship could collapse before too long

Good to be honest.... I do find F1 boring and full of pre-madonnas. BTCC on the other hand is so much better...... discuss ;-)

Very true! There are very few exciting moments in F1 (IMHO), BTCC has action at almost every corner.

BTCC might be more "action packed", seeing as it's a contact sport, but I would be suprised if the credit crunch didn't affect some of the teams budgets next season. Seat have already quit.

Although Hondas announcement came as a suprise, they really have underperformed since their return in 2000 with BAR and as a full team in 2005. Considering their budget, 1 race victory in three seasons was pretty hopeless.

I doubt they'll be the last to quit in the short term. I would have thought Williams were quite vunerable and whether Red Bull see much point in racing two teams must be subject to consideration.

Ah well, roll on March 29th and the start of the saeson!

Mclaren, Ferrari & Red Bull are I think the only truly safe teams, I would agree on Toyota & possibly Williams being next.

The only way the teams will find buyers is with Private Money, Maybe some of the Russian "businessmen" or the Arabs might fancy a go, We might see Prodrive Under the guise of Aston Martin with Arab money, you never know

Gerhard Berger left the Toro Rosso team a few weeks ago, perhaps there's a consortium ready to buy the Honda team?

Apparently they are only after a nominal sum - I'll start a list.....

Andy2407 - £5.00

Apparently they are only after a nominal sum - I'll start a list.....

Andy2407 - £5.00

Is this a Dutch auction? I'll go for GBP4.50!

I like Dutch auctions if it is me paying :P - but then I'm Dutch hehehe

£76.50 bid here.

might have a problem with funding it year-on-year mind.........

Good to be honest.... I do find F1 boring and full of pre-madonnas. BTCC on the other hand is so much better...... discuss ;-)

Summed up nicely, nothing more to discuss

I would like a left-field entry from Audi, Diesel F1 car anyone?