It’s official, Honda just pulled out of F1 racing. They said so last night during a press conference/statement from their (soon to be former) British team HQ.

Why?

The same old reason: Money.

According to the BBC, Honda had this to say:

“Honda Motor Co. has come to the conclusion that we will withdraw from all Formula One activities, making 2008 the last season for participation,” said Honda president Takeo Fukui at an emotional press conference.

“This difficult decision has been made in light of the quickly deteriorating operating environment facing the global auto industry… and the sudden contraction of the world economies,” he added.

“Honda must protect its core business activities and secure the long term as widespread uncertainties in the economics around the globe continue to mount.”

According to the Reuters news agency, team bosses Ross Brawn and Nick Fry told a meeting of the Formula One Teams’ Association: “They have a month to find a buyer, otherwise they are closing the team.”

Ouch!

Money is what Honda said at any rate, but others think differently. People like Jacques Villeneuve, former F1 champ & Honda driver. He had this to say to British racing news source AutoSport:

“I don’t think F1 is one of Honda’s biggest expenses, but with the world economic climate as it is you have to be perceived to be making cuts,” Villeneuve, who drove for the Honda team in their BAR guise from 1999-2003, told autosport.com.

“I think it’s more of a political decision.”

Jacques could be right. Sure, he’s got his personality quirks, but his assessment sounds pretty close to what I’d think.

As a commenter on a racing site pointed out: ” … are they pulling out of the IRL too during this financial crisis…?”

Good point! I haven’t heard anything form friends back in Speedway, nor nary a peep from the press.

So maybe that’s all this is: Honda, via the world econ troubles, was presented with a perfect excuse to bail from a series they were sucking at; a series they had once dominated, but were now relegated to something little more than a joke, consistently getting thumped by arch-rival Toyota last season.

Or maybe I’m wrong.

Maybe Honda was just weak, and they knew it, and for the good of the tribe took a ride on an ice flow before things got really bad.

We will see.

By AutoMoBlog

The FIA has rejected McLaren’s appeal against the penalty imposed on Lewis Hamilton following the Belgian Grand Prix Spa-Francorchamps.

The decision means Hamilton remains just one point ahead of Ferrari rival Felipe Massa in the drivers’ world championship with four races to go.

Hamilton would have received a drive-through for benefiting from cutting the Bus Stop chicane, but was given a 25-second penalty instead because the event was already over.

The penalty dropped Hamilton from first to third.

McLaren maintained Hamilton had not gained any advantage from jumping the chicane and decided to appeal the penalty.

The FIA said, however, that drive-through penalties could not be appealed.

“Article 152 of the International Sporting Code states that drive-through penalties are ‘not susceptible to appeal’,” a statement from the FIA’s Court of Appeal said on Tuesday.

“The competitor Vodafone McLaren Mercedes appealed the Steward’s decision before the International Court of Appeal in a hearing in Paris on September 22nd.

“Having heard the explanations of the parties the Court has concluded that the appeal is inadmissible.”

McLaren claimed in the court that a precedent to appeal Hamilton’s 25-second penalty had been set at last year’s Japanese Grand Prix, when Scuderia Toro Rosso were allowed to challenge a similar punishment handed down to Vitantonio Liuzzi for overtaking under yellow flags.

The FIA told McLaren, however, that there had been a mistake in Liuzzi’s original penalty - and that he too should have been given a drive-through penalty. FIA race director Charlie Whiting claimed that the chief race steward at the time, Tony Scott-Andrews, had told him there had been an error.

However, McLaren produced a statement from Scott-Andrews in court countering the claims of the FIA.

In his statement, he set the record straight by stating: “I have seen the email and I’m extremely surprised by its content. In short, it is grossly inaccurate and misleading.”

Although Whiting stood by his belief that Scott-Andrews had informed him he made an error, McLaren’s lawyer Mark Phillips made sure that the court should be made aware of the implication.

Phillips labeled it as an ‘unfortunate email’ and pleaded with the judges: “to reflect when you come to consider your judgment the way in which certain members of the FIA conducted themselves. I won’t say any more.”

By AutoSport