Buzzin F1 - Formula One Blog

Honda 2008

Formula One’s crisis team, Honda Racing have revealed that they are in discussion with their parent company in Tokyo, regarding  possible buyers for the racing team. Honda Racing CEO Nick Fry revealed the Formula 1 news last week that there had been a greater interest in purchasing the team than they had imagined, with somewhere around thirty groups showing an interest in taking the team on for 2009.

Fry has said that they have narrowed down the possible candidates to ’something in the region of a dozen’ and are currently discussing the situation with Honda about what is the best bet for the future.

The Honda Racing boss said that the chances of a sale were now ‘very positive’, but admitted to not sharing Bernie Ecclestone’s initial reaction to the sale of the Honda team when the FIA supremo said that he was 100% confident that the team would be on the grid for the first race of the 2009 season in Melbourne.

While Fry is still not 100% confident that a sale will take place he admits to being ‘pretty close’ now. He considers the sale as a once in a lifetime opportunity for the right buyer, thanks to the massive investment that Honda have made in the team, staff and cars, amounting to some ‘£75m of capital investment in the last three years.’

Following the F1 news last week that Fry’s sidekick Ross Brawn had held promising talks with his former employers at Ferrari, regarding the Italian team supplying engines for the potential buyers of the Honda team, Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali appeared to dismiss the idea during the launch of his teams F60 2009 race car today.

In a short and sharp statement Domenicali said,” I can tell you about the chances of giving Honda engines - the likelihood is close to zero.”

It may take more than Ross Brawn’s powers of persuasion to convince Ferrari to change their minds, but Honda may be forced to look elsewhere for engines if they are to survive and time is fast running out.