Honda pulls out of F1 due to global economic turmoil

Friday 05th December, 04:00 PM JST

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

› Login to comment

Latest 15 of 24 Total Comments Show All

nandakandamanda at 05:54 PM JST - 5th December

Yes, Tatanka, it is the second time for them. Last time they dropped out of F1 in 1992/3, they said they wanted to concentrate on developing environmentally friendly engines.

I wonder what they can say this time, in order to stay ahead of the game?
wanderlust at 06:25 PM JST - 5th December

They never won much; the engines and cars were not really a good advertisement for Honda were they?
romulus3 at 06:26 PM JST - 5th December

F1 is boring now anyway

why? this season was won and lost on the last corner of the final race of the season. There have been 4 different champions over the last 5 years in 3 different cars. That is pretty exciting. it sure beats the the inevitably of the Japanese baseball season, the European football season, The Super 14 etc...

This F1 season was great and next year shapes up to be even better with Alonso and Renault making dramatic gains.
butakun at 07:22 PM JST - 5th December

In fact this is the third time they quit.
888naff at 08:13 PM JST - 5th December

Maybe it will give Honda an option in the future to set a Japanese based f1 outfit in the future. This is instead of investing loads into the location inherited location from the team that they bought out BAR. Investing in BAR or the earlier tests with the more "secret" uk based HRD was seen more necessary then as teams had become stuck in their uk locations due to already substantial investments in wind tunnels etc which are not easily moved. In addition Honda can pick up and employ experienced engineers based there. However Honda have started to replicate and improve upon some of those facilities in Japan for now as dual purpose(road/race) R&D facilities. However they could use them for just racing in the future and thus have a proper Japanese based team. This would be healthy for F1 to become more international and not to be 80% stuck round the oxford cotwolds base in the UK. Anyway maybe as a company they have more important things and other technologies to concentrate on for the future. But maybe when there is more spare money again who knows.
Everton2 at 08:43 PM JST - 5th December

I never liked the sport anyway, its noisy and unfriendly to the environment. Moreover, it encourages people to drive irresponsibly. I am sure there are better ways of testing the performance of a vehicle or a particular design.
nandakandamanda at 09:14 PM JST - 5th December

The worst thing I can say about F1 is that it puts me into a pleasant sleep.

Fuji TV makes a cynical hash of it here in Japan in order to squeeze every last penny out of the exhausted late-night audience. This is absolutely unforgivable. Otherwise I enjoy it. The sounds of the engines are great. (Better in real life, plus you get the smells of hot racing oil!) The effect of a few hours on the environment is negligible, and my personal feeling is that it encourages people to be better and more conscious drivers.

Honda pulling out of F1 for financial reasons may be the tip of the iceberg. They are still active in superbikes, etc., though.
eleewhm at 10:42 PM JST - 5th December

very bad news.... its the 1st official victim of the turmoil...
BurakuminDes at 11:37 PM JST - 5th December

Here's an idea! Why don't Honda and Toyota start a breakaway F1 Championship for Hybrid Engines? Could be up and running within a few years, attract much more public interest than the current yawn, and could possibly lead to innovations for road cars (like F 1 used to). I doubt yesterdays dinosaurs like Ferrari and Renault would be able to rise to the challenge, but surely the Japanese companies (and possibly German ones) could lead the way.
Richard_the_First at 12:26 AM JST - 6th December

Foolish as they should weather the storm. To come back again will been ten times more expensive.
usaexpat at 01:20 AM JST - 6th December

Wow I didn't see that one coming. Very shortsighted on Honda's part as their success in F1 has raised the profile of the company significantly over the years.
usaexpat at 01:22 AM JST - 6th December

Everton2: there are those who get it and those who don't. I've always admired racing as a sport that seperates the men from the boys.
Triple888 at 03:45 AM JST - 6th December

Agree with other comments. F1 is only rich people or for the few in this world who are interested in cars. For the average person F1 cars are noisy and practically useless!
Everton2 at 04:18 AM JST - 6th December

Try being a spectator at one of these races; it is without a doubt the noisiest, most alcoholic charged atmosphere you will ever fine. That is simply not cricket.
rajakumar at 06:11 PM JST - 7th December

Sports sponsorships and finance will go down,as companies go into business purely in slowdown times. There will be greater sponsorships, by more sucessful companies in Sport.

Car makers will cut down sponsorship in sports as they trim down costs in all departments.