Lord Mandelson's £2.3bn bail-out of the car industry – ostensibly aimed at shoring up jobs in towns such as Swindon and Luton – could end up being deployed in the pit lanes of Monte Carlo after Honda's formula one team confirmed it was in talks to avail itself of taxpayer-funded loans.
Honda Racing became the UK's first and highest-profile casualty of the global collapse in spending on cars in December when its Japanese parent company announced it would withdraw funding.
Nick Fry, the team's chief executive, has since been seeking a buyer for the team, which has 700 employees at its Brackley base and an annual budget in the region of £200m.
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