The start of the 2009 Formula One racing season is about a month away and it’s really beginning to look as if Honda’s F1 team may not be lining up with the rest of the competition in Melbourne, Australia, at the end of March.

In a statement made by Honda Motor Co., on December 5, 2008, Honda made the “extremely difficult decision” to pull out of all Formula One activities. They put their F1 team up for sale citing the “deteriorating operating environment facing the global auto industry, brought on by the sub-prime problem in the United States, the deepening credit crisis and the sudden contraction of the world economies” as the reasoning behind their action. Perhaps this is understandable when you consider that the Honda F1 team is believed to have an operating budget of more than $300 million per year.