Honda F1 For Sale / Pull Out?

Wow talk about thread hi-jack. Where are the mods and admins?

No news on potential buyers or the future of the teams and drivers? The team was supposed to be sold last month and i havent heard anything since. Doesnt look good...
 
I wonder if they will just show up, drive a lap and park it to get last place money....?
 
Super Aguri tried that for a while, even that is very expensive.
 
Rumor has it that Honda will make a return... I wonder what the truth in that is.. Apparently Button will pilot one of the cars..
 
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http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns21178.html

Senna signs for Honda?

According to our sources Bruno Senna has now signed for the Honda Racing F1 team - and an announcement that the team will be going ahead will be made soon. The team is expected to use Mercedes-Benz engines and Senna will be partnered by Jenson Button. Backing for the team - the name of which has yet to be announced - is expected to come from one or two of Senna's personal sponsors. Petrobras has decided not to continue its deal and is withdrawing from F1.

It is not clear when the announcement will be made.

There have been some rumours in recent days that the team may have the backing of none other than Bernie Ecclestone. This would not be a surprise as Ecclestone is keen to make sure that the teams are not unanimous within the Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) and having a financial interest in one of them is a good way to ensure that this happens.

It is believed that the majority of the money to run the team will be coming from Honda itself as it is cheaper to pay to keep the team alive than it is to lay off all the staff.
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vikiradTG2007 said:
http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns21178.html

Senna signs for Honda?

According to our sources Bruno Senna has now signed for the Honda Racing F1 team - and an announcement that the team will be going ahead will be made soon. The team is expected to use Mercedes-Benz engines and Senna will be partnered by Jenson Button. Backing for the team - the name of which has yet to be announced - is expected to come from one or two of Senna's personal sponsors. Petrobras has decided not to continue its deal and is withdrawing from F1.

It is not clear when the announcement will be made.

There have been some rumours in recent days that the team may have the backing of none other than Bernie Ecclestone. This would not be a surprise as Ecclestone is keen to make sure that the teams are not unanimous within the Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) and having a financial interest in one of them is a good way to ensure that this happens.

It is believed that the majority of the money to run the team will be coming from Honda itself as it is cheaper to pay to keep the team alive than it is to lay off all the staff.
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:blink:

Whatthefuck?










Oh wait, it's Bernie we're talking about here.
 
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If I didnt hate the man, I would pat him on the back for a stroke of brilliance to undermined FOTA.
 
I hope this is true, and if it is I feel bad for Rubens but if thats what it took to get Honda on the grid fine by me.

What personal sponsor of Senna's is backing the team to the extent that it will carry its name??
 
'Honda saved by Brazilian investors'

13 February 2009

According to various media the Honda Formula 1 team have raised sufficient funds to ensure that the team can at least compete in the first four races of the upcoming Formula One season. The team would also have signed up Brazilian driver Bruno Senna to race alongside Jenson Button.

According to British newspaper The Guardian the team raised around $30m funding from a group of Brazilian sponsors who support Senna.

The team would be running with Mercedes-Benz engines in Melbourne and more information is expected later this month.
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Source

Four races only at this stage?
 
I think its all speculative at this point. That source is saying they will be running Mercedes engines, but pretty sure I remember Mercedes Haug say, only if it was a secure investment. So unless they are more secure than 4 races, they probably aren't set yet.

add: haha, I was right.
Honda Racing bosses are close to giving the green light for the team to start the 2009 season, but they still need to provide guarantees to proposed engine supplier Mercedes-Benz that they have enough funds.
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Source
 
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4 races? Reminds me of when Super Aguri pulled out only after 4 races last year. ):

But oh well, i guess it's better than nothing.
 
Bernie, Merc keen to assist Honda

Saturday, 14 February 2009 13:12

The future of the Honda Racing team looks slightly more secure after Bernie Ecclestone said he would do his utmost to ensure the squad survived and was willing to provide financial assistance.

Soon-to-be McLaren-Mercedes team boss Martin Whitmarsh has also emphasised that Mercedes remains keen to supply the Brackley-based outfit with engines, and that the Formula One Teams' Association would do whatever it could to assist.

Amid reports that sufficient sponsorship had been found to allow a management buyout of the former Honda team to proceed, Ecclestone told the Times newspaper that he had been involved in discussions to keep the team in business.

"We've been talking to them," he said.

"Whatever happens we'd like to see the Formula 1 team stay in business."

He suggested that his position as F1's commercial boss meant European law would probably preclude him personally financing the team, but said there might still be ways he could assist Honda.

"I'd rather not comment on that but we will do whatever we have to do to try to make it happen," said Ecclestone.

"I don't even know whether we could legally be involved ? we probably couldn't.

"The Commission might say that because we are the commercial rights-holder we shouldn't be part of it.

"I don't know at this stage, but there is a possibility that loans could be made or something."

Whitmarsh added that McLaren and Mercedes remain committed to supporting Honda's efforts to make the 2009 field.

"We have offered as much help and assistance as we can in the interests of the sport as a whole and the solidarity of the Formula One Teams' Association to help the Honda team stay in business," he told the Guardian.

Jenson Button has pledged to remain loyal to Honda while team bosses Nick Fry and Ross Brawn work to save the squad, and GP2 star Bruno Senna is still in line to be Button's team-mate if Honda makes it into the 2009 championship.
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Source
 
Time running out for Honda, but confidence remains

15 February 2009

Time is running out for the Honda team to confirm its engine supply deal and have enough time to engineer the new car and powerplant together to be able to compete in the new season.

The team is widely said to have less than ten days to confirm its engine deal with Mercedes or face not having enough time to be ready for the start of the season. At the heart of the issue now, is whether Honda can convince Mercedes that they have the resources in place to guarantee payment of the $10million that will be due for engines.

Mercedes is also reported to be seeking assurances from the team that it will be able to compete seriously during the season, and not cause damage to the Mercedes brand by crawling around at the back of the field.

"We've offered as much help and assistance as we can in the interest of the sport as a whole and the solidarity of FOTA to help the Honda team stay in business," McLaren's new team boss Martin Whitmarsh told the Guardian.

The Guardian also claims the team has around ?35m in backing secured, mainly from Honda in severance payments and advances on television revenues from Bernie Ecclestone. The team is also tapping into funding from Brazil's Petrobras and Embratel who are backing Bruno Senna's bid to break into F1.
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Source
 
Suddenly Mercedes has to make so many more engines.

LOL. Haug is sure gettin busy. Should be able to shake off his front bulge. :eek:
 
Virgin To Buy Out Honda?

Virgin To Buy Out Honda?

Virgin Group in talks for Honda F1 team - source
05:43 GMT, Wed 18 Feb 2009
By Alan Baldwin

LONDON (Reuters) - British entrepreneur Richard Branson's Virgin Group has made a bid for the Honda Formula One team, a source close to the Japanese manufacturer told Reuters on Tuesday.

"They have made a bid to purchase the team," said the source, who declined to be identified.

A spokeswoman for Branson declined to comment, saying the Virgin Group was "constantly named in speculation and rumour".

"We do not comment on speculation," added a Honda team spokeswoman.

If confirmed, the offer could scupper a planned management buyout being led by the team's current chief executive Nick Fry, principal Ross Brawn and three other senior Honda Racing executives.

With the Formula One season due to start in Australia on March 29 and time running out for a rescue of the Brackley-based team, a decision by the Japanese manufacturer is likely by the end of the month and possibly within days.

Honda put their team up for sale in December after announcing they were withdrawing from Formula One as a constructor and engine supplier due to the global credit crunch.

The decision left the career of British driver Jenson Button in limbo while also threatening the jobs of the team's 700 employees.

Branson has been involved with Formula One before to a minor extent, his Virgin Mobile company sponsoring the Jordan team in 2002.

Virgin Atlantic Japan have also been personal sponsors of Honda-backed Japanese driver Takuma Sato for the past four years.

ATTEMPTED COMEBACK

Sato lost his place in Formula One last year when the Super Aguri team folded and an attempted comeback with Toro Rosso failed when that team gave Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais the nod instead for 2009.

Branson is a friend and business associate of Adrian Reynard, co-founder of the BAR team that became Honda in 2006. The Honda team factory is situated in Reynard Park.

The source did now know whether Reynard was involved in any bid, however.

Honda have struggled to raise sponsorship for their under-performing Formula One team, spending an estimated $300 million of their own money for scant reward last season when they finished ninth overall.

Since Honda announced their departure, the sport has moved to slash costs and the governing body wants to go even further for 2010.

International Automobile Federation (FIA) president Max Mosley has said he wants independent teams to be able to compete on a budget of around 50 million euros ($63.23 million), a sum that could be raised from the sport's revenues and limited sponsorship.

________

Great news if it happens. Opens itself up to a world of double entendres.

"And Jenson Button in the Virgin has blown"
"And the Virgin is right behind Vettel"

and so on.
 
Oh hell no. Not another commercial giant who won't do shit to produce an F1 car except give it a big sharkfin to billboard their company.
 
THE REAL STIG said:
Oh hell no. Not another commercial giant who won't do shit to produce an F1 car except give it a big sharkfin to billboard their company.
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I much prefer for a team to be owned by a big non-car company rather than a big car company. They can pay up the pennies and just let the engineers and designers get on with their jobs.
 
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