Just like that. If Force India had left or Toro Rosso it would not be shocking, but Honda? That's the F1 equivalent of Lehman Brother tanking.
Sorry about Jenson Button but on the plus side Rubens Barrichello will have much more time to write his Ferrari slamming memoirs now.
Our friend The Hounder suggests that Audi's announcement they would pull out of ALMS racing might signal VW's possible intention of finally stepping onto the F1 playing field. While it's certain Mr. Ecclestone has been on the phone with the VolksBosses it is not clear to me why the German company would want to buy a moving chicane team out of England. Then again, VW DID build the Phateon...
BBC News coverage .
More like they realised they were never going to be in a position to compete without massive investment and development and were sick and tired of getting the poor PR from languishing at the back of the grid so found a ‘convenient’ excuse.
ReplyDeleteHonda must have more than enough cash to splash, are they pulling out of the IRL too during this financial crisis...?
Here's an idea for next time...put ads on the car instead of a depiction of the earth.
ReplyDeleteI don't feel bad about Button at all. He made a fortune out of being the most umimpressive British F1 driver ever. Nice work if you can get it. Hamilton made him look like a boob in a single season.
ReplyDelete-Freep
On second thought I have to second the Freep.... Button is the third highest paid driver in F1 (or was) and he certainly never set anything on fire...even accidentally!
ReplyDeleteAgree with thehounder ... Renault's F1 team is almost fully funded by corporate sponsorship. Honda's decision to fund everything on their own was really quite stupid. Add in the lack of good press after several lackluster seasons, and it's not terribly surprising.
ReplyDeleteYou guys are not surprised they would admit defeat like this?
ReplyDeleteIn any case this shotgun wedding between Formula 1 and Save the planet greenness was a bonehead idea...not too optimistic about the forced KERS-ing either.
Funny that Honda' CEO apologized to Jenson Button but said nothing about Barrichello
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/72330
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