OCTOBER 4, 2005

A second team with Honda

More details are emerging of Honda's plans in F1 and we hear from Japan that there will be a second team next year, using V8 engines. This is expected to be a new team but there are no further details at the moment of who this may involve. The only obvious candidate is the Japanese group that was discussing a deal with McLaren. It is perhaps possible that the team would acquire the old McLaren factory in Woking and work from there but getting things in place would be a rush, given that there is a limited time available to design and build a car.

Takuma Sato will be the driver of the secondary Honda team, which suggests that there is a strong Japanese involvement in the project and that has led to speculation that it could be the Dome company, which has been working closely with Honda for years.