Honda's mystery team to be unveiled 'soon'.

Honda top brass insist that the identity of the team that it is expected to supply with engines in next year's Formula One world championship will be revealed before too long.

Speaking at the Japanese Grand Prix, Honda Racing president Yasuhiro Wada sought to play down speculation that the rumours were merely a smokescreen to cover the company's decision to dispense with Takuma Sato's services at BAR, and claimed that he expected to be able to talk about the mystery team 'soon'.

"It's an independent team already involved in racing and hoping to enter Formula One," Wada explained, "I wish I could tell you more, [but] they are finalising details and I don't expect an announcement is too far away. I expect it will be made soon."

The president also revealed that Honda would have 'a contract to supply engines and technical assistance', but refused to speculate on the identity of the team's drivers, despite speculation in the Suzuka paddock insisting the BAR refugee Sato and the team's reserve driver Anthony Davidson would get the nod. Sato has already announced that he has an offer from the newcomer, which many people believe to be Trevor Carlin's eponymous outfit, which ran both Davidson and Sato in F3 - with Mugen-Honda engines.

"A lot has happened so quickly, and I'm very excited," Sato told reporters in Japan, "It gives me more options."