By Phil Huff
May 20 2005

Bernie Ecclestone saved BAR Honda from being thrown out of Formula One, following the well publicised fuel tank saga, according to the man himself. Speaking to the assembled press in Monaco, where BAR Honda are sitting at the sidelines watching for the second race in succession, Bernie claimed that he put pressure on Max Mosley, worried that Honda could pull out of Formula One should they be banned.

"Max took a hard line on BAR and wanted them thrown out of the entire Championship," said the F1 boss. "I told him to come back from that a bit because I was worried Honda would leave the sport. I asked him not to go for the entire season's ban because it would also not have been good for the sport."

Honda recently purchased a 45% stake in BAR, and admitted that they are prepared to spend where necessary to win the championship, refusing to rule out a 100% buy out of the team.

The team recently employed Gil de Ferran to help their cause, and are being linked with a move to snap up Mercedes engine guru Mario Illien.