Fry hopes his team can carry on racing without Honda next year. (LAT Photo)
Honda F1 CEO Nick Fry insists that there is still time to find a buyer for the team before the start of next season, in the wake of the manufacturer’s announcement that it is pulling out of Formula 1.
The operation is available for a token sum, but any buyer has to have sufficient funding to continue to operate it at a high level. The situation is identical to that faced by Jaguar when Ford pulled the plug in November 2004.
Ironically earlier this year Fry played a key role when Honda turned down a last minute offer to save the Super Aguri team, because the prospective buyer did not seem serious.
Honda has not had any serious sponsorship in recent years, but has a three-year deal in place with former Williams backer Petrobras. It is worth $20m per season.
Speaking to the BBC, he said: “In the last 12 hours we've had three serious people come and suggest they'd like to buy the team. We're one of the best-funded teams and have the best assets and resources in the pit lane - we'll be quite a desirable asset for somebody.
“We're very hopeful, as are most commentators, that we'll take a big step up. It's a big opportunity for somebody. We have 700 people working for the team. It's business as usual - we have to go through the usual three month consultation period with staff to decide the future of the company and during that period we're hoping we'll find a buyer.
“Jenson Button has a contract with team for next year. If we can find new owners we hope he can continue with the rest of them. He's been very much an integral part for years, he's a big asset which hopefully will make the team even more attractive, the second driver position is undecided.”
Fry denied that poor performance on the track had contributed to the decision in Tokyo: “All motor companies have been struck very hard by falling sales. Clearly, more success on the track would have been nice but it's a bigger picture issue and this year we've been developing a car for next year.”
