Honda have a dozen options, says Fry

Honda are considering about 12 serious offers for their Formula One team, Honda Racing chief executive Nick Fry said.

"It's looking very positive at the moment," the Briton said at the Autosport International Show in Birmingham.

"We had, as you might expect, a huge amount of interest at the start - probably well in excess of 30 groups came to us.

"We have narrowed that down to something in the region of a dozen, and we're currently talking to Honda about what is the best bet for the future."

Honda, among the worst performers last season despite having one of the biggest budgets, announced last month that they were pulling out of F1 due to the global financial crisis which has hammered car manufacturers.

Fry did not name any of the interested parties, with most of those identified in the media in recent weeks denying any intention.

However he told the autosport.com website that he was now much more optimistic than when Honda made their decision.

"Right at the start of this process (Formula One supremo) Bernie Ecclestone said that he was 100 per cent confident that we'd be on the grid in Melbourne, and I have to say that I wasn't quite so sure where his confidence came from," said Fry.

"But as we've gone through this process, my confidence based on what we've seen has increased - maybe not to 100 per cent but it's pretty close."