Tokyo - Japanese carmaker Honda Motor Co is quitting Formula One as the company battles sinking profits, Honda's chief executive said Friday. Honda President Takeo Fukui said Japan's second-largest carmaker will withdraw from the costly sport by the end of this year, citing deteriorating business conditions due to the worldwide economic downturn, as uncertainty continued to grow and recovery was expected to take some time.
The carmaker a few months ago slashed both its profit projections and production for the fiscal year through March 2009.
"It was a very difficult decision," Fukui said at a press conference in Tokyo.
Honda representatives had informed its team, which is based in Britain, that it was to pull out of the expensive sport if no new sponsor was found, Japan's Jiji Press news agency said earlier, also citing British news reports.
If there was no buyer by March, the team was to be sold, leaving current drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello in limbo, the BBC reported.
