Found this really nice thread on Reddit about Honda pulling out and the Mugen takeover prospects. Maybe Ispano can add some additional commentary. Well worth a read with translations provided.
I just feel it's a great pity that Honda is pulling out just as they were reaching the position to battle for wins and championships. My first personal vehicle was a tiny Honda two wheeler so I feel attachment towards the brand as well as the devotion to perfectionism in the Japanese way of life.
"[Japanese Media Roundup] Is a Mugen deal really in the works? And other reactions to Honda's withdrawal
On a potential Mugen takeover
Oct. 9, 2020; Autosport Web
Masashi Yamamoto, Managing Director, Honda F1:
This is just a personal opinion, but if we could've asked Mugen to take over the program, then we wouldn't have pulled out in the first place. Surely the sheer complexity of the current PUs is common knowledge by now. Development is impossible without backup from HRD Sakura, and deploying the PU, including controlling it trackside, and working with a top team in general requires a certain degree of insight and expertise.
So asking the guys at Mugen to take over is not on the cards, and nothing concrete has been decided at this stage. It's a blank slate. Of course if Red Bull needs something from us we'll see how we could be of help, and we'll try our best to help them.
Honda's departure: reactions
Following are excerpts from 3 articles from major Japanese motorsport outlets
Oct. 3, 2020; Autosport Web
[Special Column: Honda's retreat from F1] Honda lets down countless motorsport fans; what Honda loses from their departure | Kunio Shibata, a long-time Japanese motorsports journalist
....I was surprised and angry as I listened to Honda's press conference announcing their retreat from F1. A retreat wasn't entirely unpredictable, but I never thought that they would actually do it. It seemed obvious that leaving F1 would prove a net negative.
What do they gain? The money they'd been spending in F1. And they'd be able to divert personnel to other departments....
...What will they lose? Put simply, our trust in Honda as a brand. By pulling out, Honda decisively disappointed numerous fans, Honda customers, and racing personnel at home and abroad. Their retreat at the end of 2008 had been a surprise as well, but at least the Lehman shock provided a desperate enough excuse (although it has to be said Renault persevered despite being hit harder than Honda). However, as soon as their performance recovered several years later, they came back to F1, and it was as if they'd already forgotten the fact that they pulled out. They even told us that they were in it for the long term.
But as it stands, they're pulling out after just 7 years--even shorter than their previous stint in the sport.
"We were able to fulfill our goal of winning"
What? Wasn't Honda's goal to be the undisputed champions at the pinnacle of motorsport? Inevitably social media was filled with anger and disappointment immediately after the press conference.
"Some criticism is to be expected" "it'll die down as time passes" Those who pushed through for a retreat are probably thinking along those lines. But the ramifications of what Honda has done here will surely come back at them, as deep, heavy blows....
...When they say they're aiming to be "Carbon Neutral by 2050," it almost sounds like a far sighted corporate decision. But surely those lofty long term goals and their F1 program could have coexisted if they tried hard enough.
But at the end of the day, Honda allowed themselves to be pushed over by those who were against F1 from the start. Hachigo painstakingly stressed that "Motorsports is part of Honda's DNA" while declaring that they'd "never return to F1;" to me, it was a pathetic sight to behold.
Oct. 10, 2020; Best Car web
Honda's sudden retreat from F1--the real reason isn't the environment | Tetsuo Tsugawa (former Benetton mechanic, another long time F1 pundit)
...In order to ensure their survival, they'll be pouring the F1 project's staff and resources into new technologies and vehicles...
That's what they say, but surely Honda has engineers outside of their F1 project; are they really suggesting that Honda's R&D is so understaffed that they need to enlist the help of the F1 staff?.....
.....In both 2000 and 2013, Honda announced their entry into F1 without establishing a concept, seemingly without doing any in-depth research; things like a clear concept and a roadmap for the project were tossed aside in favor of unproven optimism and pure happenstance.....
.....We F1 fans used to look up to Honda. But Honda's leaving, trampling on our admiring gaze yet again.
The biggest blow has to be to Red Bull. With a long term relationship with Honda in mind, they had let go of their relationship with Aston Martin. With Honda now gone, Aston Martin is now Racing Point's. If Honda's retreat crushed Red Bull's chances for success, and if they eventually end up withdrawing from the sport....the damage wrought to the sport by Honda's feckless foray into F1 would be incalculable.
Oct. 9, 2020; Sportiva
Does Honda's F1 retreat leave unfinished business? What rallying stock prices tell us about reality, and concerns for their future | Mineoki Yoneya (Full time F1 journo, known to be a bit of a Honda apologist at times--he was adamant that Mclaren were at least somewhat to blame during the wretched GP2 Engine/best chassis era)
.....Honda says they want to utilize the knowhow of their F1 engineers to develop the next generation of power units, to ultimately achieve their goal of being carbon neutral by 2050. Just like how Asagi revolutionized Kei vehicles with the N BOX, Honda is probably counting on the current crop of F1 engineers to develop an entirely new concept for mobility.
But would those engineers--many of whom joined because they wanted to work in F1--be able to find any motivation? More to the point, will the kind of talent capable of developing revolutionary concepts even be attracted to a Honda that's too sensible for F1?
What does the future hold if Honda no longer attracts the kind of talent that joins the company because they're bold enough to declare "F1 is Honda's DNA", and are replaced by those merely attracted to the stability and security of a large, sensible corporation? Well, that fate already befell the higher ups at Honda HQ. And that's why I'm disappointed and concerned about a future where Honda is no longer in F1, where F1 is lost from their DNA.....
.....the exhilaration and joy that Honda has given us thus far can't be changed. And they're sure to give us more in the remaining 14 months.
I believe that a true F1 fan, a true Honda fan should be grateful to what Honda has given us rather than lash out at them, and continue to back them fully as they complete what remains of their challenge. That would be the ultimate act of defiance against those who chose to abandon Honda's DNA."
Source :
https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comme ... really_in/“Hamilton’s talent is perhaps even more than that of Ayrton or Schumacher or Fernando." - Rubens Barrichello
Thanks again @Ispano.