Potential buyers have already expressed interest in the Honda Formula One team, its chief executive said, after the car giant announced it would pull out of the sport without a new owner.
Three possible bidders have come forward in the last 12 hours, Honda chief executive Nick Fry told Radio Five Live, as he called the team a "desirable asset".
But even if a new owner is found, workers at the team's headquarters in Brackley, Northamptonshire, still face redundancy. British driver Jenson Button will also be out of a job after nine years in F1 unless there is a late reprieve.
Mr Fry said: "I think we are going to be a desirable asset for somebody. We are very hopeful, as are most of the commentators in Formula One, that this team is going to take a big step upwards, so it is a big opportunity for somebody."
Honda Motorsport Corporation said it was pulling out of Formula One because of the global financial crisis. Takeo Fukui, the chief executive of Honda Motors, announced at a news conference in Tokyo that the company would be willing to sell the team. However, if a buyer cannot be found they will withdraw from the 2009 competition, ending the Japanese car giant's nine-year involvement in the sport.
Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) president Max Mosely pledged to push through cost-cutting measures to help secure the sport's future.
It is understood the 600 members of staff at Brackley, near Silverstone, were told job losses would be likely, even if a buyer was found for the team.
Elsewhere in the motor industry a car components factory is planning to shed 208 jobs, a union official has said.
The Canadian-based Linamar, which employs 358 people on the outskirts of Swansea, is looking to transfer some of the work to Mexico, according to Unite regional organiser Emyr Evans. The company only took over the plant at the beginning of July from Visteon.
Mr Evans said: "There are 200 redundancies in the production sector and eight in the staff sector. There is a voluntary redundancy package that is being opened. All I know is that it is due to over-manning and transfer of work from one of the lines to Mexico."
