Three tests. Three superb results. Takuma Sato having been away from an F1 seat for almost a season, came along and showed Scuderia Torro Rosso incumbent Bordais that speed was more than familiarity with the car. It comes with talent and vitality. 

Now it is for the bosses to make their choice - and for all of our enthusiasm as fans and 'experts' our opinion counts for nothing in this sport of high finance and international influence. We are but tiny minnows looking in at the shark-fest that is F1.

Sources close to Taku talk of high spirits and great hope, but twists and turns have told Taku fans to wait for the ink to dry on contracts before we breath again. There are very good economic reasons - as I wrote in "Countdown to Seats" for Taku to be chosen, but since when has common sense figured in modern F1?

As we wait, reading rumours and seeing deadlines come and go, all we can do is hope. And so it is - thousands of Taku fans hoping that he can make a return to the sport. Return to make a sport which is set to become even more homogeneous, a little more spicy.

The countdown is tortuous ...  

For Sale: One F1 Team ... nearly new.

I hear that a prominent F1 team has decided to hang up their F1 boots.

Tonight, as Fry stood in front of hundreds of employees, still managing to bad-mouth Super Aguri, it was announced that Honda would be pulling out of F1.

Funded only as long as the next three months, it is hoped that a buyer will come and take on the liabilities.

Ross Brawn  may have gotten Ferrari engines for the new buyers, but that won't be much of a gem when it is considered that Honda is rumoured to be one of the biggest spenders in 2007/8.

A woeful lack of points and a single victory later Button will be hurting too.

According to sources, Fry said that this withdrawal was not the same as Super Aguri ... because Honda have good people. (Paraphrased but something very close to that). What an odd statement for a management team that has failed to produce reliable podiums. Obviously money doesn't make points! 

Our hearts go out to the 600+ employees at HF1, but as Honda have put thousands of its employees in Japan on reduced working, it is perhaps inevitable that such a cash drain has to be switched off. 

As one of the most profitable of the car manufacturers involved in F1, the news cannot bode well for Toyota, BMW and Ferrari. Or soon to be divorcee, Bernie Ecclestone. His profits are going to be eaten into both sides now.