Honda could have won races in Formula One next year had they not decided to walk away from the sport on Friday, team boss Ross Brawn said.
“We would have had a race-winning car and that’s the tragedy,” said the former Ferrari technical director.
“Our information is that, relative to the other teams, we had a very strong car for next year and we would have continued developing it.”
Honda announced in Japan on Friday that the team, whose entry has already been submitted for 2009, was up for sale and that they would no longer stay in Formula One as a constructor or engine supplier.
Brawn said it was the first time in his Formula One career that he had been made redundant but he had come to Honda at the end of 2007 for the challenge and intended to rise to it.
“This is a unique opportunity to buy a team with some of the best facilities in Formula One, best workforce and a car that could be one of the best,” he said.
Read more on this:
Honda Withdraws From Formula One
Honda’s F1 Departure Could Shock Global Motorsport
Honda Races Against Time To Find A Buyer For Formula 1 Team Ahead Of 2009 Season
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F1 Boss Bernie Ecclestone Called Honda’s Exit A “Wake-Up Call” For The Sport
UPDATE: December 10, 2008 07:46 am
Ferrari’s Formula One team is planning to accelerate its cost-cutting plans for 2009 in the wake of Honda’s pullout from the sport.
“This process had already begun over the last few years. But now it’s going to have a sharp acceleration,” team director Stefano Domenicali said without providing further financial details.
Still, Domenicali warned that cuts in F1 spending shouldn’t reach the point where it wouldn’t allow healthy engineering competition. Ferrari announced in October it too would leave F1 if the sport’s governing body goes ahead with plans to have a sole engine and transmission supplier beginning in 2010.
Domenicali called Honda’s decision “a lightning strike in a clear sky.”
“It’s a big crisis and you can understand the reasons that would force an automaker, faced with thousands of job firings, to engage in such drastic cost-cutting,” he said.
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