With the Ross Brawn-led management buyout now approved – but not officially announced – by Honda Motor Co.’s Tokyo board, information is leaking from the outfit that had until recently looked likely to be wound up ahead of the 2009 season.

— Feb 25th —

Despite all the economic troubles throughout the automotive industry, Honda F1 may be back to race this year.

Ross Brawn & Honda F1

It wasn’t looking good for Honda’s F1 team by the end of 2008. With the auto maker starting to struggle, along with the rest of Earth’s car companies, it seems inevitable that Honda would pull out of F1 in 2009 to save a little cash. Now, Ross Brawn, Honda Team leader, is saying we should remain optimistic that Honda F1 will happen.

Brawn explained: We only need the green light and then we can go. By the Swiss newspaper Blick, he is also quoted as explaining that when he is given the green light, the team will arrange to travel to the final test sessions of the pre-season. Keep your fingers crossed race fans!