You would be forgiven for thinking that Friday's main story was David Richards' departure from BAR.

In reality however, the main story was Honda's purchase of 45% of the Brackley outfit, a move which commits another manufacturer to the sport and gives the team added security as it looks to the future, a future in which it must eventually wean itself off the tobacco habit.

The departure of Richards however is major news, even if for many it is not actually news, but merely final confirmation of something that has been whispered behind the motorhomes for the last couple of months.

No matter how friendly and positive the soundbites, be under no illusion, David Richards departure has been on the cards since early August.

On August 20, two weeks after WilliamsF1 announced that it had signed Jenson Button for the "2005 season and beyond", Pitpass was told, by a highly reliable source, that David Richards' future at BAR was bleak, and that the Englishman would not be at Brackley come the end of the year.

Quite simply, the Japanese manufacturer wasn't so much miffed at the prospect of losing its star driver, Jenson Button, but the fact that that it got to learn of the situation. like many F1 fans, via the media. Admit it, how would you feel?. When the Honda buy-in came to pass, it might appear as if the new Japanese masters made Richards' departure a condition of purchase.

There were many occasions during the whole Buttongate saga when it appeared that certain information was being fed to sections of the media, something which regular readers will know that Pitpass often referred to. Based on experience, and having talked to various parties, including legal experts, we are utterly convinced that some of those involved in the saga were deliberately feeding information and misinformation to contacts in the media.

Although David Richards will remain at BAR until the beginning of the new year, his time with the Brackley team is effectively over, and it is unlikely that we will hear much of him in his official capacity in the coming weeks.

There remain many unanswered questions regarding Buttongate, and since we ran our previous story we have attempted to clarify many of the issues left unanswered.

Then again there is the future of Jenson Button and his management. It is widely assumed that the youngster will end his agreement with John Byfield and Essentially Sport, for many, the cause of the shambles that was Buttongate, with former Jaguar media manager Nav Sidhu being named by many
as the man looking to take over the driver's affairs. Certainly we have heard that there will be a partnership between Mr Sidhu and Mr Button from 1 January 2005, however at this moment in time we do not know the exact nature of the 'relationship'.

There has been talk of David Richards wanting to get involved in managing Button, with one source telling Pitpass that Richards "wants to own Button".

Certainly the Buttongate saga has damaged the driver's public image, with some now seeing him as disloyal and ungrateful, while others feel that the 'bad press' will finish if, and when, the youngster climbs on to the top step of the podium for the first time.