Bernie Ecclestone won’t. What say you?

“Honda will be no great loss,” Wee Bernie Ecclestone reportedly told The Telegraph.

“Just look at where they finished in the Championship - ninth. They wasted millions and were a bad example to other teams.”

Way to get your Scouts’ Diplomacy badge, Bernie.

Do you agree with him? Honda were a spare wheel in 2008, but that’s partly because they spent the season thinking far more about how to be competitive in 2009 - and we have little doubt that they would have finished higher than ninth next year.

Will you miss them? Vote below or leave us a fantastic comment:

Could Honda’s demise spell the end of Button’s F1 career?

“Bugger.”

One week ago, Jenson Button confidently predicted that Honda would return to form in 2009. It was a fair assessment too - the team spent most of this season developing its car for next season, under the genius guidance of Ross Brawn (speaking of Brawn, Ferrari may come knocking again). And frankly, they couldn’t have been much worse than they were in 2008.

But with the shock news that Honda is set to quit F1, Button finds himself up a stinky creek without a steering device (like a paddle, say).

Does Jens sit tight and hope that a buyer rescues Honda in the next few weeks? Or should he get on the phone to Toro Rosso - the only team yet to finalise its driver line-up for ‘09 - and beg for an eleventh-hour test (bear in mind that he’d have to take a substantial wage cut for that to happen)?

F1 rocked by global recession

“Byeeeeee!”

Holy KERS, Batman! Who saw this coming? Not us, or anyone else judging by the shocked reaction in the media. Max Mosley feared that something like this might happen, but most of us believed - naively, maybe - that F1 could continue to exist in its current state, albeit with a few cost cuts here and there.

Yesterday we told you that Honda had scrapped its annual media lunch. Who knew that the manufacturer had secretly decided to scrap rather more than a seven-course Christmas meal.

Honda’s Nick Fry claims three parties have already been in touch about buying out Honda, and there is every chance the team will run in some form next season, albeit on a greatly reduced budget - but hundreds of staff at Honda’s Brackley HQ will still lose their jobs. And if a giant like Honda can’t survive, you have to wonder if Toyota - Honda’s direct rival in F1 and in the production market - will also pull the plug, perhaps remaining in F1 only as an engine supplier.

So, dark days for F1. And with car sales plummeting around the world, the sport is more vulnerable than at any time in its history.

More on the F1 crisis throughout the day.

Read Honda’s full statement below:

Rubens is a loose (and fast) cannon

This weekend, Rubens Barrichello won Felipe Massa’s International Challenge of Go-Kart Champions - but it seems unlikely that the win in the charity event will have any outcome on Rubinho’s future in F1, even though he beat the man who wants his Honda seat, Lucas di Grassi, as well as the great Michael Schumacher.

Schumi, who won last year’s event, could only manage eighth, a result that will please Rubens immensely. In the last few weeks, it has become clear that Rubens has major issues with his former team-mate.

Ferrari must be concerned about Barrichello’s threat to spill the beans about his career with them - and there’s no doubt that an explosive, revelatory book is in the works. Rubens played the obedient No.2 to perfection during his six seasons as Schumi’s wing-man, but today it’s a different story: Rubens has ‘gone rogue’.

Barrichello has already claimed that Ferrari threatened to “take a closer look” at his contract during the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix, when he famously followed team orders to let Schumi overtake him.

“For me it was pretty clear. Take my foot off the pedal or get fired,” Rubens claimed this week.

Toro Rosso and Honda choose youth over experience

Looks like Rubens Barrichello is out of a job. We hear that Honda has decided - at last - on its driver line-up for next season. And the two lucky drivers are… drum roll… Jenson Button (no surprise there) and Bruno Senna.

Senna’s name brings with it a lot of financial muscle - enough for Ayrton’s nephew to get the nod over Rubens and Lucas di Grassi.

With new rules in place for 2009, we would have stuck with the experience of Barrichello (Murray Walker agrees), who didn’t do much wrong this year. He may be getting on a bit, but he is still a great driver, with at least one more season in him.

We’re yet to be convinced that Senna is the real deal - hype follows him everywhere, but much of that is down to his famous surname. Senna II will struggle to match Button’s pace, no doubt.

Meanwhile, over at Toro Rosso…

Rubens set to blast the lid off his time with the Scuderia

In the wake of allegations that Rubens Barrichello sang “Schumacher is a homo” at a Ferrari party in Sao Paulo, the Brazilian has dropped another hint that his working relationship with the seven-time champion wasn’t as healthy as we might have believed.

Speaking at an awards night in Sao Paulo (again), Rubens reacted to a question about Homogate. He said:

“The public does not know even half of the story about what I experienced with Ferrari. Perhaps they will be able to read the truth one day in a book.”

Oooh, the tease.

“This one’s going out to Schumi… hic”

At an end-of-season party thrown by Ferrari in Sao Paulo, Rubens Barrichello reportedly took to the mic and started singing “Schumacher is a homo!”

Rubens - clearly under the influence of a few complimentary cold beverages - then tried to get Felipe Massa and his wife, who had arrived late to the party, to join in with the song. The couple apparently looked embarrassed but made an effort to look like they were getting into Rubens’ witty “Schumi is a homo” vibe.

[MyFreeSport]

Gridcrasher rates each driver based on their performance in 2008

Rubens Barrichello (Honda)

Best finish: 3rd (Britain)
Best qualifying: 9th (Canada)
Total points: 11

The story of his season: Eleven points is a decent return by the veteran Brazilian - it’s eight points more than team-mate Jenson Button has managed, even though we argued that Rubens has often struggled to match his team-mate’s pace. But in races it seems that Barrichello has used all of his experience to pull off some eyebrow-raising results - most notably the third place at Silverstone, when the bad weather and a shrewd strategy combined to help his cause. His sixth place at Monaco, a race that was also affected by wet weather, also deserves a mention. However, if you look at the second half of the season, Rubens has really struggled. In the last eight grands prix, his highest finish is 11th, and his best qualifying effort a lowly 13th. No wonder Bruno Senna is being lined up to replace him.