Official F1/Motorsport thread

[Richard.John]

It's not a listed company though I assume though. I wonder why he sold back his stake? Could be simply that he has run out of cash on his end, as I can't imagine a 50% stake in an F1 team is cheap.

[Roddie]

He said it was because the new rule changes left no room for improvement for a small team like Toro Rosso and that Red Bull would be giving more money, time and support to the main team and less to Toro Rosso so he felt that they would only be going backwards.

[Richard.John]

Okay, thanks for that.

[Roddie]

He was head of BMW Motorsport before Toro Rosso (not sure what he did in between) so hopefully we'll see him in another F1 time; it's always nice to see Berger on the pit wall.

[VR46]

Honda to quit F1 tomorrow unless a buyer is found

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7766092.stm

[Roddie]

Woah, that's short notice!

In other news, Pantano's crying about no F1 teams contacting him.

[Senna]

Looks like Max Mosley was right with his cost-cutting agenda.

What chance David Richards coming in to buy the team with Prodrive? I for one would support that.

All these years of Ecclestone's money-grabbing antics is about to come crashing down around him, and I think it will be good for the sport in the long run. Give me independent teams like Williams and McLaren any day over the corporate manufacturers (with the exception of Ferrari).

Also, apparently Toyota don't want the expense of running the Japanese GP at Fuji anymore, they are happy for Suzuka to come back permanently. Excellent news.

Still, 18 cars next season? Sheesh.

[Sigourney Beaver]

Woah, that's short notice!

In other news, Pantano's crying about no F1 teams contacting him.

Pantano

"The only person behaving fairly has been Ecclestone. I called him a few days ago and after ten minutes he called me back. The only real drives still available are at Honda and Toro Rosso. Bernie told me that if anything moves, I'll be the first to know.

[Richard.John]

Unbelievable about Honda. They were telling us that wins were on the cards in '09 and here we are facing them possibly withdrawing from the sport over the winter. Quite a turnaround.

And which team is next? Here's betting that '09 is Toyota's last season in F1.

Sadly, the money game that F1 has turned into may be brought down by the very people who built it up, the big manufacturers, while the privateers go down with the sinking ship, unable to keep afloat. Ironic that it started as out as the small guy in his shed, and now has turned in to a cock waving competition by the car makers. Said car makers will pull the plug when it suits them. Bernie must be ****ting himself tonight!

Reading round the net, and it seems Berger picked a good time to leave now that two teams are potentially up for sale.

EDIT:Immediate pull out confirmed. Good bye, POWERED by HONDA. Thanks for the memories.

[TheForce]

this is seriously bad news .... Honda out of the F1 !!

http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/news/2008/12/05/honda-announce-retirement-from-f1/

18 cars of track ? ... F1 is getting into some heavy problems if even a big player like Honda is stepping out of F1 without a notice...

the only hope I have now is that maybe ProDrive will buy the time, but I think that even ProDrive doesn't have the funds for a buy like this..

This is truly sad news, I always thought Honda would find it's way back to the top of the field..

[jim g]

F1 could end up with even fewer teams soon. I work for a car manufactuer and it is awful right now, job losses, spending freezes, new model cutbacks etc etc. The car industry eats cash because R&D spend billions up front and, right now cash is king.

F1 right now is a luxury many simply cannot afford.

Given this, Toyota, BMW and Mercedes could all re-think their investment in in F1.

[Shez]

Bloody hell this is a bit of a surprise - I did find it odd that they confirmed Button/Barrichello and then seemed to have change of heart and started denying any deals had been done.

I wouldn't be surprised if a deal is already in place for someone to come in and buy it.

[Alastair]

They said on BBC Breakfast this morning that it could well be sold for a pound. If there was any way I thought I could run it for a year I'd buy it in a flash, however, where would you even start to get any of the hundreds of millions it would take to run each year?

I really do have my fingers crossed that someone is already lined up to buy them as it really would be a shame if Button is without a drive next year, that could well be the end of him in F1 if true.

Dave Richards keeps getting mentioned and that would be great, but, he wanted a decent car didn't he, not a Honda

As others have mentioned, how long until the other big boys pull out? BMW have closed a lot of their European factories for a month or more. That doesn't seem like a good indication that they have the money hanging around to run a top flight F1 team. Remember Jaguar, they closed the F1 team within months of announcing that the factory was to close permanently.

End of F1 as we know it? Maybe.

[Atticus]

Gutting news about Honda, just as I was starting to believe they might be competitive next year too. I wonder where Button and Brawn will turn up?

[CMcK]

Brawn will probably end up at Force India. As for Button I doubt he'll get a seat anywhere this season unless he's willing to take a pay cut or a test drivers seat.