Officially Official: Honda exits F1 before 2009 season
Rumors yesterday indicated that Honda would be dropping out of Formula 1 for the 2009 season if a buyer wasn't quickly found. Today, CEO Takeo Fukui has made Honda's exit official. As you would imagine, racing at the top rung of motorsports is expensive, and despite the acknowledgment of such from top F1 officials and the growing sentiment that it needs to get cheaper, that's not going to happen in 2009. With global automotive sales, and therefore profits, down by alarming percentages, Honda can no longer justify its F1 racing investments and believes that the money could be better spent elsewhere. It should be noted that Honda has only had a single Grand Prix victory way back in 2006, so its significant yearly multi-million dollar investment has never really paid off anyway. An official statement from Fukui, who thanks Honda's fans for their support, is pasted after the break.
[Source: Honda, Photo by BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty]
Statement:
Statement by Takeo Fukui, President and CEO, Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
December 5, 2008 – We, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., have come to the conclusion that we will withdraw from all Formula One activities, making 2008 the last season of participation.
This difficult decision has been made in light of the quickly deteriorating operating environment facing the global auto industry, brought on by the sub-prime problem in the United States, the deepening credit crisis and the sudden contraction of the world economies.
Honda must protect its core business activities and secure the long term as widespread uncertainties in the economies around the globe continue to mount. A recovery is expected to take some time.
Under these circumstances, Honda has taken swift and flexible measures to counter this sudden and expansive weakening of the marketplace in all business areas. However, in recognition of the need to optimize the allocation of management resources, including investment regarding the future, we have decided to withdraw from Formula One participation. We will enter into consultation with the associates of Honda Racing F1 Team and its engine supplier Honda Racing Development regarding the future of the two companies. This will include offering the team for sale.
In its third era of Formula One activities, Honda has been participating in Formula One races from the 2000 season, initially with BAR, by adopting a new format of jointly developing racing machines. Subsequently, in a move to meet the changing environment surrounding Formula One, we switched to running a 100% Honda-owned team commencing with the 2006 season.
Surmounting many challenges, the Honda Team achieved a Grand Prix victory in 2006, enabling Honda to receive overwhelming support from Honda fans around the world that were looking forward to greater success. It, therefore, has been an extremely difficult decision for us to come to this conclusion without having been able to fully meet the expectations of our fans.
By making the best of what we have learned during these times of economic turmoil, coupled with the spirit of challenge gained through active participation in racing, we intend to continue with our commitment in meeting new challenges.
Finally, we would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank our fans and all those who have supported Honda's Formula One efforts, including everyone in the world of Formula One.
Thank you very much.
Takeo Fukui
President and CEO
Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Mazda FTW! 11:38AM (12/05/2008)
If only Mazda had the resources to get into F1.
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JD 11:59AM (12/05/2008)
Why? I love Mazda (note that my pic is of my Mazdaspeed's tach), but they've built up a lot more racing cred than Honda has, while spending probably a fraction of what Honda spent in one season of F1.
Mazda is proof that you don't need to spend billions to make a reputation for yourself in racing. And I do watch F1, through the bad times and the good (I was at the USGP in '05- I still shudder at the memory). I wonder if anyone will step in to fill the void, or if the 3rd car from the top 2 teams rule applies.
Ian 12:38PM (12/05/2008)
Ford has had a controlling interest, of 34%, in Mazda since early 1990s when Mazda basically failed but was rescued by Ford. Ford Execs stepped in and directly managed the recovery of Mazda to where it is today. Ford is inow n the process of selling 50% of that stake and formally handing over management control of the sound manufacturer back to Japanese Execs.
Meantime in OW Mazda remains a Sponsor of the Mazda Atlantics series. Powered by a Mazda engine slightly tweaked by Cossie.
HeyHuub 12:13PM (12/05/2008)
Please help me here, because i can't really think of any big racing league where Mazda currently participates...
cFoo 12:26PM (12/05/2008)
Why would they want to do that? F1 is just a big farce. I've been watching F1 since the late 80s. I must admit 2008 was exciting but other than the fight for the championship nothing else was exciting about the cars. The FIA have pretty much restricted all innovations in F1. There won't be a single F1 race in North America next season.
Mazda is doing great in North American racing leagues. Why change to something that soon enough no one in North America would know about?
Good on Honduh for pulling out now. Smart business people don't wait until the company is near bankruptcy to react. No names needed.
You can bet there will be some discussions starting at Toyota HQ. No doubt so will Renault.
JD 12:29PM (12/05/2008)
Look at SCCA racing. There are so many Miata's in there, it's crazy. There are spec Miata leagues, as well as Miata's that race in general racing otherwise. They do campaign an LMP2 car in ALMS, but that's not too mentionable, to be honest.
The cars Mazda makes don't lend themselves too well to the big leagues, like a GT2 ALMS car, but that doesn't mean you don't race. I'd love to see a GT3 or even GT4 class in ALMS with more cars- Or a dedicated, separate race since the track is pretty crowded as it is. I'd love to see Solstices, Miata's, Speed3's, RX-8's, Cobalt SS's, and whatever else you want- that'd be fun to watch, IMO. Probably not ALMS caliber, but it'd still be fun.
Also, the ALMS organizers should allow Rotaries in and bring back the Mazda 787B. That would kick ass.
So they aren't in a major series right now, but you don't need to race in a major form of motorsport to get racing cred, though- I mean, what exactly has Honda's F1 team done for them? It's been a great money pit lately, but not much else, unless you count public humiliation.
SimbaDogg 6:49AM (12/06/2008)
Mazda...more racing cred....than honda? i was waiting for the pysche on that one. But honestly, honda as more high performance history on two and four wheels than mazda will probably ever have. From their old formula 1 days, to their DOMINANCE in CART in the 90's, to their many many SUPER AMA champ wins, and even MotoX. I dont wanna bash on the miata, but no amount of 1 spec miata series, or SCCA runs can even come come to that. I mean, jesus...do we even wanna bring up the old dominance of the Real Time Type Rs of SCCA past?
Eric Liberatore 11:40AM (12/05/2008)
This is some very sad news. Thanks a lot Bernie for driving F1 out of town here in the states, one of Honda's biggest markets.
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EJ25RUN 11:42AM (12/05/2008)
With the new Cosworth contract, i feel that more teams are likely to make an exit.
Consider this, what would McLaren need with Mercedes in 2010? Goodbye MB is what i think will happen very soon.
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AZZO45b 12:04PM (12/05/2008)
Cosworth has NO CONTRACT... this is a concept of Max Mosley at this stage.
EJ25RUN 12:10PM (12/05/2008)
To AZZO45b:
It appears you are correct. I have reread and it states that there are talks of 1. using a Cosworth engine, letting the teams build own motor to Cosworth specs or continuing with the frozen v8s. Thanx for clarification as i was up in arms over initially reading it went through.
AZZO45b 12:24PM (12/05/2008)
No problem... there is a lot of turmoil in racing right now!!! A busy news day to say the least, mate.
Audi dropping ALMS & ELMS. Honda out of F1. Petty Enterprises possibly selling the #43 to Gillett Racing... I know I'm forgetting a few more.
Eric Liberatore 11:43AM (12/05/2008)
What about Indy? Pull out of that!
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pcrager 11:56AM (12/05/2008)
But their engines are successful there!
AZZO45b 12:08PM (12/05/2008)
The IRL (or ICS) is CHEAP & Honda has no direct competition. It is also budgeted under Honda NA who also bank rolls the Acura ALMS program.
The ALMS loves Honda at this time... Audi just mad the R15 a LeMan24 only deal... no ALMS or ELMS
Flea 11:45AM (12/05/2008)
I'm so gonna get voted down for this but...
If you're not good enough to play, get out.
This is the harsh rule of F1. At least, it should be.
It'll be sad to see two less cars on the grid, but at least it should remind everyone that F1 is for hardcore players with hardcore engineers. Being the first engine manufacturer in the world doesn't necessarily mean you have what it takes to win.
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ack154 11:49AM (12/05/2008)
From the reading... it doesn't seem like this is necessarily a "not good enough" thing... it is a "can't justify the $ at this time" thing.
That's what I take it as anyway.
gmpphotography 12:23PM (12/05/2008)
I agree. I think it is not so much expense rather than trying to avoid further embarrassement that Honda is eliminating. With only one win since 2006 and being consistantly beaten by supposedly lesser tems does not make for good advertising.
alex 3:59PM (12/05/2008)
The problem is that with all the proposed changes, medal system, universal spec engine, it's obvious that bernie and max mosley are driving f1 down the drain. It doesn't make any sense for Honda to stay in, especially considering how much an effort costs. What makes me sad is that I really believed Honda would be decent in the coming season with their jumpstart on the other teams and would be on the upswing from there on. My expectations been shot down by something I'd never have predicted, but now that it's out in the open, I can understand.
Mobius_1 11:49AM (12/05/2008)
I suppose this is wise. Unless you are very good, F1 is only going to kill your cash flow (as Spyker found out some years ago). Hey, no one said this is the end of Honda in F1, they might be back when times get better, I hope?
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