The future of the Honda Racing team looks slightly more secure after Bernie Ecclestone said he would do his utmost to ensure the squad survived and was willing to provide financial assistance.
Soon-to-be McLaren-Mercedes team boss Martin Whitmarsh has also emphasised that Mercedes remains keen to supply the Brackley-based outfit with engines, and that the Formula One Teams’ Association would do whatever it could to assist.
“We’ve been talking to them - whatever happens we’d like to see the Formula One team stay in business,” Ecclestone said. It is thought that he is considering a financial commitment, but when asked about this, he would add only: “I’d rather not comment on that but we will do whatever we have to do to try to make it happen.”
The emergence of Ecclestone’s involvement will come as a boost to the Honda workforce, who have been waiting nervously to discover whether Nick Fry, the chief executive, and Ross Brawn, the team principal, have been successful in their search for a way forward.
In the meantime the team have continued work on their new car, but have no engine-supply deal in place and have not been able to run their new machine at either of the official pre-season tests. A striking aspect of Ecclestone’s comments yesterday was his supreme confidence that the team will compete in Melbourne, where their drivers are expected to be Button and Bruno Senna, the Brazilian rookie. “I’ve always been confident they will make it,” he said.
Whitmarsh added that McLaren and Mercedes remain committed to supporting Honda’s efforts to make the 2009 field.
“We have offered as much help and assistance as we can in the interests of the sport as a whole and the solidarity of the Formula One Teams’ Association to help the Honda team stay in business,” he said.
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