Ecclestone: Buyers interested in Honda

Eurosport - Sun, 07 Dec 15:44:00 2008

Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has claimed several parties have shown interest in buying the Honda team, after their withdrawal from the sport due to financial reasons.

FORMULA 1 - Bernie Ecclestone, F1 bigwig - 0

"I think it's okay. I think there's a number of people out there that have shown a lot of interest," Ecclestone told Sky News.

Ecclestone, saying he knew of two separate enquiries, added that Honda's withdrawal was a wake-up call for the sport.

"Both Max [FIA head Mosley] and myself have been campaigning now for quite a long time to try to reduce the necessity to spend vast amounts of money to be competitive," he said.

"What we are trying to say to the engineers is 'do all these things, come up with the ideas but try to remember the cost'.

"When you consider that Honda have got 700 people working there to put two cars on the starting grid, it's a little bit cranky to be honest with you."

The head of Honda's Formula One team Nick Fry said he was hopeful a buyer would step in.

"We've had two or three global players contact us already who are interested in a top level team... I think there's good reason for hope for the future," he said.

"Formula One is up there with the Olympics and the World Cup in terms of global popularity and that's why there are so many huge companies involved because it is a global stage where they can present their products."

Fry recognised, however, that times were tough for the sport. "We've got to find a way of seeing ourselves through the next couple of years," he said.

"I sat with all the other team owners yesterday and we reduced the budgets for next year potentially by 50 million euros (£43.3 million), by cutting back developing, cutting back testing."

Fry said his team were well-placed for an improved performance next year and it would be a "massive disappointment" if they were not on the start line for the first race of the new season in Australia in March.

"We are very close. This year we really didn't work that hard on our car because we knew we had to invest next year and we wanted a top-line Ross Brawn-developed car for Jenson [Button] next year," he said.

"If that doesn't happen, that would be devastating for everyone involved but at this stage we are assuming it is going to happen."

Mosley said there would be plenty of potential buyers but only if the cost of competing could be controlled.

"We must get the costs down to the point where a potential purchaser can see that he can run the team without having to subsidise it with huge sums of money and then there has to be a source of an engine," he said.

"All of those conditions can be satisfied so I'm optimistic that it can be solved though I think it's by no means certain."

Former team boss Eddie Jordan was also confident there would be a buyer for the Northamptonshire-based team.

"I do believe that Honda will be snapped up," he said. "It's too good, it's a jewel in the crown.

"I think you have the basis of something that can be bought at a very, very discounted price for a huge advantage.

"These are the best facilities that you can ever imagine and to lose that to Formula One would be catastrophic."

Reuters

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  1. BER.NIE BER.NIE
    BER.NIE GO HOME...

    BER.NIE­ BER.NIE,
    BER.NIE GO HOME...

    From golf in the kingdom, on Mon 8 Dec 2:20PM

  2. Audi sales were up last month. Auto Union in 2009­ GP's ?.

    From chtech06, on Mon 8 Dec 11:53AM

  3. If the parasites of F1 were not around the costs would­ be cut quite a bit, but that will never happen.

    From Alan K, on Mon 8 Dec 9:19AM

  4. THE BEST THING FOR HONDA IS LET ECCLESTONE BUY IT AND­ PUT BACK SOME OF THE MONEY THAT HE HAS TAKEN OUT OF THE­ SPORT SEE IF HE CAN DO BETTER PUT HIS MONEY WERE HIS­ MOUTH IS.

    GRAHAM
    AT THE HOME OF MOTOR RACING­ NORTHAMPTON

    From GRAHAM B, on Mon 8 Dec 6:58AM

  5. If you reduced the amount you rip off the teams by,­ then it would benefit everyone. It might even allow­ some of the circuits to make a profit. T.P.D. Thieving­ Poison Dwarf

    From Tonka, on Mon 8 Dec 6:17AM

  6. Too bad Bernie left the USGP - he could have gotten­ some big BAIL OUT dough. It won't be long before we­ have an 8-10 car field! Long live king Bernie!

    From Mikey D, on Mon 8 Dec 2:12AM

  7. Why is the so called F1 supremo saying its up to the­ teams to cut costs he rums the sport so he should be­ looking at ways of making the sport more entertaining­ and less expensive, maybe after hes settled is divorce­ case he will try harder sack mosley and him, maybe then­ the sport can be run properly.

    From tracy e, on Sun 7 Dec 11:02PM

  8. mclaren are cheats along with hamilton No 1 will ever­ take them too seriosly, they tarnish the name of F1 un­ repairable now my hoes THE NAME OF F1 TOO TARNISHED it­ is a joke...

    From , on Sun 7 Dec 10:22PM

  9. hello my little f1 bum chums it marion here from peru.­
    mr hamiltons son say he stay with mclaren men for­ life. that nice for him but what do mclaren men say?­ you see mclaren is now german owned. the parent company­ is the mercedes benz which is the german. the engine is­ the german engine. everything about the team is the­ german. mr hamiltons son now the swiss gentleman he eat­ much cheese and sings in the morning at mountains. mr­ hamiltons father is also now the swiss man. in fact­ there nothing british about this team at all. even the­ man who tidy up the garage after the race has moved to­ switzerland with his mother. switzerland is owned by­ the german. my friends the whole team is GERMAN - and­ guess what - so is mr glock. now you see why the time­ stand still for mr glock on the last lap. like he in­ the time warp. not even the people abducted by the­ alien lose the amount of time he lost on that last lap.­ IT IS A DISGRACE!!!

    From , on Sun 7 Dec 10:18PM

  10. F1 IS ABOUT TEAMS AND ENGINE BUILDERS..ITS WRONG TO­ START CHANGING REGULATIONS AND RULES JUST BECAUSE..SO­ HONDA PULLING OUT YES IS SAD , BUT THEN AGAIN IF THEY­ CANNOT MAKE THEIR CHASSIS AND ENGINE A BETTER­ COMBINATION, THEN BYE BYE HONDA, AND LETS GET SOMEONE­ NEW AND EXICTED ABOUT WHAT F1 IS.AND WHY NOT HAVE 2­ FORMULAS IN ONE?

    From NUNO, on Sun 7 Dec 10:14PM

  11. Great for Mosely and Ecclestone to realise that there­ needs to be cuts in the amount F1 spends. What about­ the amount of money those two greedy @#$% take out of­ it.

    From matasspin, on Sun 7 Dec 8:07PM

  12. mr hamiltons son say he stay with mclaren men for life.­ that nice for him

    From , on Sun 7 Dec 7:07PM

  13. hello my little f1 bum chums it marion here from peru.­
    mr hamiltons son say he stay with mclaren men for­ life. that nice for him but what do mclaren men say?­ you see mclaren is now german owned. the parent company­ is the mercedes benz which is the german. the engine is­ the german engine. everything about the team is the­ german. mr hamiltons son now the swiss gentleman he eat­ much cheese and sings in the morning at mountains. mr­ hamiltons father is also now the swiss man. in fact­ there nothing british about this team at all. even the­ man who tidy up the garage after the race has moved to­ switzerland with his mother. switzerland is owned by­ the german. my friends the whole team is GERMAN - and­ guess what - so is mr glock. now you see why the time­ stand still for mr glock on the last lap. like he in­ the time warp. not even the people abducted by the­ alien lose the amount of time he lost on that last lap.­ IT IS A DISGRACE!!!

    From , on Sun 7 Dec 6:37PM

  14. RAY WHY YOU BITE SO HARD...LOL

    From , on Sun 7 Dec 6:33PM

  15. RAY WHY YOU BITE SO HARD...LOL

    From , on Sun 7 Dec 6:33PM

  16. Three buyers for Honda? Who are they, GM, Lehmann­ Brothers and the Northern Rock?

    From , on Sun 7 Dec 5:53PM

  17. toddman_2000: Honda have already developed most of the­ 2009 car, and that will be part of any purchase,­ including a KERS which is probably the most advanced of­ all the teams. Honda started work on their 2009­ package near the start of the 2008 season so whoever­ buys the team will get the staff, a nearly finished car­ that will come with full Honda support to complete, and­ of course Ross Brawn and Nick Fry in charge of a whole­ load of staff (some of which will probably have to go­ due to a tighter more streamlined budget).

    From ginger_gitt, on Sun 7 Dec 11:55AM

  18. I think that Bernie is full of it. To come in this late­ and buy Honda without the R&D and plannning is­ crazy. The only way I could see his remotly happening­ is if you have a former driver ,owner or both to hit­ the ground running with so little time to have a team­ ready to start the season.

    If "Joe the F1­ fan" who has a lot of money to burn buys a team.­ The cost will put the teams, drivers, and crew on­ eggshells because of lack of cars motors ane parts. No­ good business man will pump the huge amount of money to­ loose money. Eveny if you break even it wont be enough.­ You would need to make so much money for R&D to­ keep up with the faster teams and remain to have that­ pace. If someone buys it, It woild need so much money,­ they wont make it half a season before closing up shop.­ I thing by the end of the season F1 will have a 16 or­ 18 car grid.
    I hope I am wrong and we have a full graid­ with great races. I think F1 needs some young blood in­ there with new marketing, promotion, and better cars­ and racing. F1 needs to even the field with all teams.­ If not you will have Ferrari, Mclaren, Red Bull, BMW­ and Renault. Make little changes to even the playing­ field. I don't see a serious buyer for a long term­ go in F1. Thats my two cents worth.

    From toddman_200, on Sun 7 Dec 11:00AM

  19. To Marion (The Ugly), Funny when Lewis wins they only­ ever play ONE Anthem?

    From Easyrider2609, on Sun 7 Dec 10:29AM

  20. Marion were are you, has the mains failed in peru ? we­ are having a wip round in the UK so you can get a face­ lift and a life

    From I TYSON, on Sun 7 Dec 10:18AM
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