While continuing to remain as tight-lipped as possible, Honda has this morning confirmed that Virgin is one of several potential purchasers of its Formula One team.

"We are negotiating with several buyers and one of these parties is the Virgin Group," said a Honda spokesman.

The potential sale of the Brackley team continues to be shrouded in mystery, rumour and spin, with the result being that few can separate fact from fantasy.

Having admitted to numerous signs of interest, team boss Nick Fry subsequently stated that thirty original bids had been pared down to twelve.

However, it was then revealed that Fry was leading a management buy-out, though it was never made clear who would be stumping up the money.

With the original 31st January deadline passing by with no firm news, it was subsequently claimed that there never really had been a deadline in the first place, only the March 3rd date by which time the Honda Motor Company has to have a firm offer for the team or else it is the end of the line for Brackley and its 700+ employees.

In the last week there has been talk of a group of Brazilian sponsors backing the team, only for (former Williams sponsor) Petrobras, which was originally to have sponsored the Brackley team this year, to reveal that it is no longer involved.

With the apparent failure of the Brazilian bid, attention now turns to Richard Branson and his Virgin empire, which, like Honda, remains tight lipped, thereby leading to further speculation.