Denial of Honda’s acquisition by Slim

As we announced to you yesterday on our site, a rumor claimed that Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim had purchased the former Formula 1 team, Honda Racing.

The conditional remained appropriate until the main parties involved spoke on the subject.

Carlos Slim has therefore not bought the Honda Formula 1 team, and has not entered into negotiations for such a deal, a representative of his industrial and financial group stated on Sunday in Mexico. “There is no purchase of the Honda team, there is no agreement or negotiation,” he told AFP. Additionally, Slim’s son confirmed this false information that was spread globally.

« The savior arrived in the nick of time: Carlos Slim, 67, the second richest man in the world. The announcement is not yet official as they await the formalization of all the details of the ownership transfer. But two things are certain: the team is saved and the drivers will be Jenson Button, confirmed, and the rookie Bruno Senna instead of Rubens Barrichello, » wrote La Stampa, the Italian newspaper author of this rumor.

The Honda team announced in November that it was withdrawing from the world of Formula 1 because of the international financial crisis. Honda car sales have dropped in recent months, and the Japanese manufacturer could no longer sustain the existence of an F1 team. The allocated budgets were too heavy.

Article updated at 6:30 PM, December 28, 2008.