Honda Set to Make Comeback to F1

Tokyo, May 15 (Jiji Press)--Honda Motor Co. <7267> has decided on its comeback to Formula One auto racing as an engine supplier in 2015, informed sources said Wednesday. Honda President Takanobu Ito plans to make an announcement at a press conference within this week, the sources said. Honda is expected to supply a newly developed engine to British F1 team McLaren, according to the sources. In the 1988 season, the McLaren-Honda team showed overwhelming strength by winning 15 of 16 races. Eight of the 15 races were won by legendary driver Ayrton Senna, who died in a crash during a race in San Marino in 1994, and seven by Alain Prost. The Japanese automaker joined F1 in 1964 for the first time. Since then, it repeated withdrawals and comebacks, and last pulled out of the auto racing in 2008 following a deterioration in its earnings due to the fallout from the collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers in September the same year. Honda made the decision on its F1 comeback, judging that it can utilize its fuel-efficient engine technologies because V-shaped six-cylinder 1,600-c.c. turbo engines will be adopted for F1 from the 2014 season instead of currently used larger engines, the sources said. Also behind the decision is the company's rapidly recovering business performance backed by the yen's sharp fallback, the sources said. END