KEY POINTS:
Over the past few years Formula One has been inexorably moving towards the twilight zone. The rules and regulations have been changed, massaged, tweaked, interfered with, bastardised and manipulated so much, that I now have a better understanding of rugby than motorsport.
Motor racing was supposed to be about putting a bloke in car, that someone else built, and telling him to go as fast as possible to try and beat the next guy.
Sure people have died racing, just as they do climbing a bloody mountain. And I'll tell you what I'd rather watch, and it's not some bloke in a snow cave.
Anyway, I digress.
It became completely obvious that Boris Karloff, in the guise of Bernie Ecclestone, had taken over the blue riband of motor sport and moved it well and truly into the twilight zone, when night racing was introduced into F1.
Not happy with idea of trying to fit headlights to an F1 car, Ecclestone, in the manner of the pontiff, decreed that drivers would no longer receive points for winning a race, but fool's gold for first, silver-plated nickel for second and copper-coated pig-iron for third.
Apparently this would make F1 more like an Olympic sport. It's no wonder his wife has left him.
I reckon that's why Honda has abandoned its dream of conquering F1 and put its team up for sale. It's not about the money (it costs about $230 million a year to run an F1 team), for them it's the lack of direction from the top, ie Ecclestone and his mad mate Max Mosley.
It doesn't help, that in Honda's case they didn't have a sponsor to at least pick a bit of the tab, but for one of the world's major car players to throw their hands in the air and surrender, doesn't bode well for the sport in general.
Let's hope Formula One isn't a house of cards; for if one of the world's largest car manufactures decides to pull out of motor sport, the whole lot could come tumbling down.
That probably won't worry the bunch of dithering old men who run the sport because they'll all be dead and buried when it finally implodes due to their mismanagement and greed.
However, if there is no buyer and the Honda F1 is wound up, it could be the start of something quite tragic. Although personally, I find F1 a tad boring with the lack of passing, it does have history on its side and a Kiwi has won the title.
I have no concerns over the over-paid and under performing-drivers, Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello, it's more the 800-odd workers and support staff that could be out of job that will be the major impact.
There are also rumours about Renault's continuing support for F1, Red Bull's continuing keenness to stay involved and that Williams' financial well-being may not be all it seems. If these three, or any other others, were to drop out in the near future, F1 wouldn't be much chop in 2009.
Photo: Jenson Button looks to be out of a job. (AP)
