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Thirty bidders for Honda, says Fry
By Phil Huff
January 12 2009
There are as many as a dozen serious offers for the Honda Racing F1 team being considered, so says Chief Executive Officer Nick Fry. At one point there were as many as 30 bidders expressing interest in the Brackley facility, he also claimed.

"It's looking very positive at the moment," explained Fry at the Autosport show. "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 now narrowed that down to something in the region of a dozen, and we're currently talking to Honda about what is the best bet for the future."

Honda have given themselves a deadline of the end of January to secure a buyer or, at the very least, be in the final contractual discussions with a buyer. As time presses on, confidence swings one way or another, even at the top of the team.

"Right at the start of this process Bernie Ecclestone said that he was 100% confident that we'd be on the grid in Melbourne," added Fry, "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. And it has been very gratifying."

"I think this is really a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, to get something which has the opportunity to do very well in the next couple of years," said Fry, referring to the considerable assets at Brackley. The facilities have benefited from £75m of capital investment over the last three years, and the resources and people skills available are, in many places, second to none.

"In this economic environment it is difficult," admits Fry, "and we've got to be careful that we look not just at 2009, which frankly is the least of our worries. It really is making sure that we have got a long-term future for the staff. Neither Ross nor I want to stand there and say that everything is fine if in one or two years' time we fall flat on our face again. So we are really looking towards a two, three, five year plan for the team."

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