David Richards has all but ruled out putting in a rescue bid for the Honda Racing team.

Richards was linked to a buyout of the team before Christmas but warned he would only go through with a deal if the circumstances were right.

Speaking at the Autosport International show in Birmingham, Richards said the current sporting and economic conditions are not suitable for making a successful and profitable return to Formula 1.

"All I can say is that I have made it very clear that the only terms I would ever consider a return or an involvement was if I felt we could be competitive, and nobody expects to win in their first year of Formula 1," said Richards.

"It has got to be financially viable as well.

"You expect to invest but in the longer term you expect it to work.

"I just personally feel that the current environment is too unsettled."

He added that the sport still needed to address the high costs of participation and that the most recent cost-cutting measures, although a start, would not feed through until the 2010 season.

"I think there are still many people in F1 for whom reality has not yet sunk in about how bad the situation is out there in the world – in the general world of business, commerce and everyone's way of life at the moment.

"If Formula 1 does not reconnect itself with its fan base and with the man in the street, and bring itself down to earth, I fear for its future.

"I know some people at the top end of the sport are addressing that and are well aware of that.

"It is a bitter medicine that is required at the moment but it has to be done.

"The cost-cutting process that has been put in place has not yet seen its full benefit, and I don't think it will be until 2010 that you will see those issues roll out properly.

"The teams have still got a burden of overhead that is unsustainable.

"So consequently, with the window of time for entry, I just question whether it is right at the moment."

Richards also said that if he had been a part of the recent cost-cutting talks between the Formula One Teams’ Association and the FIA, he would have advocated a more stringent approach.

"I would regard those [cost-cutting changes] as modest inroads if I am honest with you," he said.

"When you make changes to things, and you have to make a radical shift to get back to a sustainable level, you make that one-hit, one cut very quickly to get it done and then move forward from that point.

"You don't do it by a series of 1000 cuts.

"If I was involved I would be pushing hard for a lot deeper cuts a lot quicker."

Richards made clear that if he were to return to F1 it would be purely as a business venture and added that he did not feel his runner-up finish in the constructors’ championship with BAR in 2004 had left him with any unfinished business.

"We were runner-up that year behind Ferrari, and everyone assumes I would be motivated to go back for the last push but that is not what motivates me at all,” he said.

"It will be a hard-headed business decision, not an emotive one, when I make it."

 

This is bad, bad news for Honda, and possibly for all the other teams as well. I really hope someone will step in and help Honda out before the season starts.

 

+1 I had high hopes for Ross Brawn and co. I really think he could turn it around this season