Rumours have been rife this week that Richard Branson is interested in a buyout of Honda Racing but in a BBC interview this morning, Saturday, he was adamant that he would not seriously consider involvement in F1 unless changes were made to the financal structure and environmental approach of the sport.

"I think there are faults that would need to be rectified before we could go into F1."

"If Bernie Ecclestone can make it more cost-effective for the likes of the Virgin brand to come into the sport, and if he can champion clean motor-car racing - which is possible to do by making sure all the cars run on clean fuels - then at some stage we might be interested in getting involved."

"If we are in discussions (with Honda) then I wouldn't be allowed to say so, because there would be some kind of clause that would prohibit me talking about it," added  Branson.