F1 (8)

Picture Credit: Red Bull

Amidst lot of speculation over Honda returning back to the F1, company's absence from the F1 Commission's meeting has put all the speculation to rest. Earlier, Honda's top brass including CEO Toshihiro, chairman Seiji Kuraishi, HRC president Koji Watanabe and director Yasuaki Asaki paid a visit to Red Bull Racing during last weekend's race at the Austrian Grand Prix.

The visit from Honda's senior office bearers sparked the debate over Honda returning to the Formula One. Even, HRC president Koji Watanabe claimed that company is closely monitoring the development and stated that doors are yet not closed for Honda. However, Honda's absence from highly-anticipated meeting last weekend came as a surprise to many.

Last week on Friday (July 8th), all team bosses and engine suppliers reportedly discussed future engine regulations, but Honda arrived at the Red Bull Ring a day later. According to reports, Watanabe has now stated that Honda is no longer involved in any way in determining the future new rules in Formula 1.

In response to queries over Honda's return, Watanabe said that Honda is following the developments in F1 with great interest, but further claimed that the company is not considering an immediate return to F1. "We are just going to carry out the technological development that we have decided to do, and we are not even considering or discussing the idea to return to F1 or anything like that," Watanabe said.

The Japanese also denied claims of any sorts of frustration in Honda about Red Bull starting the season so well, by stating that Honda considers motorsports to be very important. "Honda considers motorsports to be very important, so it was a difficult decision for us to stop. As a business choice, we decided that we had to concentrate on developing carbon neutral technology, and there was nothing for it but to stop our activities in F1," said Watanabe.