Honda will assist buyer - Mosley

Honda quit Formula One last week

Motorsport boss Max Mosley has assured potential buyers of Honda they would be helped by the Japanese company in 2009.

The Northamptonshire-based outfit are looking for new owners after quitting Formula One for financial reasons.

"If a serious buyer came along then Honda would help to keep it going," said Mosley.

"Any person would then be on their own in 2010, but they would get some help in 2009. It becomes a reasonable proposition for an entrepreneur."

On Wednesday Formula One's teams and governing body the International Automobile Federation (FIA) agreed key cost-cutting measures for the next two seasons.

The full details will be released on Friday after it has been approved by the FIA's World Motor Sport Council.

"From a motorsport point of view, nobody knows if it [the economic crisis] is going to get worse, or whether we have seen the worst, or whether it will improve," said Mosley.

"It is essential to plan for the worst case, and to have contingency plans in place to deal with the situation if it does get much worse.

"We have to face facts that Honda pulled out because of falling car sales and there is absolutely no guarantee that the fall won't go further.

606: DEBATE

Can Honda bounce back?

"If they do, we have to reckon on other manufacturers pulling out of not only F1, but other forms of motor sport, and we have to plan for that."

"The manufacturers cannot go on subsidising Formula One to the tune of hundreds of millions of pounds. The sponsors are going to pay less and the money that comes from Formula One Management Limited and Bernie Ecclestone is bound to go down."