Official withdrawal of the Honda team

We announced it on our website already early this morning, the probable withdrawal of the Honda team. This information was officially confirmed in the morning in a press release by the president and executive director of Honda Motor, Takeo Fukui.

The main reason for this withdrawal is due to the deterioration of the global economic situation, and it has become difficult to gather the operational budget for the team, which amounts to approximately 290 million dollars.

The President of the FIA, Max Mosley, described that total expenditures in 2008 amounted to $1.6 billion and that this situation has become unsustainable. The teams have relied too much on the goodwill of wealthy individuals and sponsoring companies.

Mosley promised to implement cost-cutting measures by 2010 with the aim of making the sport more financially appealing.

He adds: « Honda’s announcement of withdrawal from Formula One has confirmed the FIA’s long-standing serious concern about the cost of competing in the World Championship, which has become untenable ».

The FIA adds, “We believe that the global economic slowdown has only amplified an already critical situation.”

This withdrawal of Honda is very bad news for the entire F1 since back in May, the Super Aguri team had already followed the same path.