Buyers Interested In Honda Says Ecclestone

Ecclestone, saying he knew of two separate enquiries, added that Honda`s withdrawal was a wake-up call for the sport.

Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone said several parties had shown interest in buying the Honda team which confirmed on Friday it was pulling out of the sport.

"I think it's okay. I think there's a number of people out there that have shown a lot of interest," Ecclestone told Sky News.

Ecclestone, saying he knew of two separate enquiries, added that Honda's withdrawal was a wake-up call for the sport.

"Both Max (FIA head Mosley) and myself have been campaigning now for quite a long time to try to reduce the necessity to spend vast amounts of money to be competitive," he said.

"The trouble is that the teams are basically run by the technicians that really should be at home playing with their Playstations rather than spending fortunes to win races.

"What we are trying to say to the engineers is 'do all these things, come up with the ideas but try to remember the cost'.

"When you consider that Honda have got 700 people working there to put two cars on the starting grid, it's a little bit cranky to be honest with you." The head of Honda's Formula One team Nick Fry said he was hopeful a buyer would step in.

"We've had a couple of expressions of interest in the team already and hopefully there's going to be a whole new future for us," he said.

'GLOBAL STAGE'

"We've had two or three global players contact us already who are interested in a top level team. It's going to be tough but I think there's good reason for hope for the future.

"Formula One is up there with the Olympics and the (soccer) World Cup in terms of global popularity and that's why there are so many huge companies involved because it is a global stage where they can present their products," Fry said.

"We've got to find a way of seeing ourselves through the next couple of years.

"I sat with all the other team owners yesterday and we reduced the budgets for next year potentially by 50 million euros ($63.93 million), by cutting back developing, cutting back testing.

"So we are trying to respond very quickly to the economic situation and hopefully all the Formula One teams will have a secure future."

Fry said his team were well-placed for an improved performance next year and it would be a "massive disappointment" if they were not on the start line for the first race of the new season in Australia in March.

"For me and a lot of people here this has been an eight to 10-year effort and that's what it takes to get to the top line in Formula One," he said.

"We are very close, we hired Ross Brawn last year, who is the best in the business...

"This year we really didn't work that hard on our car because we knew we had to invest next year and we wanted a top-line Ross Brawn-developed car for Jenson (Button) next year.

"If that doesn't happen, that would be devastating for everyone involved but at this stage we are assuming it is going to happen."