It’s official, Honda’s CEO Takeo Fukui confirmed today that they’re withdrawing from Formula One ahead of the 2009 season. But what caused them to pull out? Apparently the economic downturn and the fact that they’re trying to reduce spendings and protect the main core instead. And considering that last month Honda saw a decline of more than 30 per cent in its biggest market, the US, the reason is pretty good. More to the whole deal, Honda also said that they’re not even going to supply other teams with engines, which may have interesting consequences. Meanwhile, we’ve been briefed that there are interested buyers who’d like to take over.