Honda Reviewing 12 Offers For F1 Team

Nick Fry, the chief executive of the Honda Racing F1 Team, has stated that the Japanese manufacturer is reviewing 12 offers for the team after it was put up for sale late last year.

Fry said the chances of a sale were ‘very positive’, boosting the racing team’s prospects of making the grid for the new season.

Stated Fry: ‘We had, as you might expect, a huge amount of interest at the start – probably well in excess of 30 groups came to us. We have narrowed that down to something in the region of a dozen.

‘We are currently talking to Honda about what is the best bet for the future.’

The Japanese manufacturer pulled out of F1 last month, blaming the global financial crisis for their decision.

But Fry said the interest in buying the team had made him increasingly confident they would be able to race in the 2009 season.

‘Right at the start of this process Bernie Ecclestone said that he was 100% confident that we’d be on the grid in Melbourne, and I have to say that I wasn’t quite so sure where his confidence came from.

‘But as we’ve gone through this process, my confidence based on what we’ve seen has increased – maybe not to 100% but it’s pretty close.

‘We’ve got a team that has benefited from £75m worth of capital investment in the last three years.

‘They have probably got some of the best automotive and other technology in the country, if not the world, and it has got an immensely highly-skilled technical staff led by Ross Brawn. So there’s a huge amount going for it.’

Fry said a consideration in any sale would be to ensure a long-term future for the staff at the Brackley-based racing team.