Honda pull out of ITV F1 sponsorship

Honda are pulling out of their sponsorship deal with ITV F1, leaving the UK broadcaster searching for a replacement less than two months before the 2008 season begins in Australia. Honda 'idents' appeared before and after each part of ITV's F1 programming, initially using clips from their Impossible Dream advert before moving to shots of Honda powered machinery, from cars to lawnmowers.

The Honda sponsorship, promoting Honda cars in the UK rather than Honda Racing F1, was worth an estimated £2.5m ($4.9m/€3.3m) through 2007, but it's understood that ITV are looking to increase that to as much as £4m.

Industry analysts expect ITV to struggle to fill the void. Although the price tag of £4m is not bad value to reach 5m people every other weekend, the problem is that the audience is made up of largely the same people for each event.

An ITV spokesman said "We are currently in discussion with a number of parties and are confident we will secure a sponsor soon."