The 1989 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 43rd season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It began on 26 March and ended on 5 November. Alain Prost won his third Drivers' Championship, and McLaren won its second consecutive Constructors' Championship; its fifth overall.
The Drivers' Championship was decided in controversial circumstances at the penultimate race of the season in Japan, when Prost and teammate Ayrton Senna, who needed to win the race, collided in the closing laps. Prost retired while Senna rejoined the track after a push start and crossed the line first, only to be disqualified for not rejoining the track correctly. This handed Prost the title, his last with McLaren before joining Ferrari in 1990.
The season also saw an unprecedented number of entries, with 21 constructors originally entered, fielding a total of 40 cars. However, FIRST Racing withdrew from the championship before the opening race, leaving 20 constructors fielding a total of 39 cars, which remains the highest entry in the modern era.
This year was the first year of the new mandatory 3.5 litre engine formula following the FIA's ban on turbocharged engines following the conclusion of the previous season. Renault also returned as engine supplier for the first time since 1986 with both Renault and Honda developing engines with a V10 configuration, an engine configuration never previously used in Formula One.
, this was the last time Honda and the same engine manufacturer won both the Formula One and MotoGP world manufacturers' titles in the same year.
Drivers and constructors The following teams and drivers competed in the 1989 FIA Formula One World Championship. FIRST Racing injected material into their chassis in order to pass a mandatory FIA pre-season crash test, however, it made its car significantly overweight and they withdrew before the opening Brazilian Grand Prix. After this, they instead focused on the Formula 3000 series. Changes to the technical regulations, including the outlawing of forced-induction engines, contributed to the bumper entry.
Entrant Constructor Chassis Engine Tyre No Driver Rounds Honda Marlboro McLaren McLaren-Honda MP4/5 Honda RA109E V10 1 Ayrton Senna All 2 Alain Prost All Tyrrell Racing Organisation Tyrrell-Ford 017B018 Ford Cosworth DFR V8 3 Jonathan Palmer All 4 Michele Alboreto 1–6 Jean Alesi 7–10, 12, 14–16 Johnny Herbert 11, 13 Canon Williams Team Williams-Renault FW12CFW13 Renault RS1 V10 5 Thierry Boutsen All 6 Riccardo Patrese All Motor Racing Developments Brabham-Judd BT58 Judd EV V8 7 Martin Brundle All 8 Stefano Modena All USF&G Arrows Ford Arrows-Ford A11 Ford Cosworth DFR V8 9 Derek Warwick 1–6, 8–16 Martin Donnelly 7 10 Eddie Cheever All Camel Team Lotus Lotus-Judd 101 Judd CV V8 11 Nelson Piquet All 12 Satoru Nakajima All Leyton House Racing Team March-Judd 881CG891 Judd CV V8Judd EV V8 15 Maurício Gugelmin All 16 Ivan Capelli All Fondmetal Osella Osella-Ford FA1M Ford Cosworth DFR V8 17 Nicola Larini All 18 Piercarlo Ghinzani All Benetton Formula Benetton-Ford B188B189 Ford Cosworth DFR V8Ford HBA1/4 V8 19 Alessandro Nannini All 20 Johnny Herbert 1–6 Emanuele Pirro 7–16 Scuderia Italia BMS Dallara-Ford F189 Ford Cosworth DFR V8 21 Alex Caffi All 22 Andrea de Cesaris All Lois Minardi Team Minardi-Ford M188BM189 Ford Cosworth DFZ V8 23 Pierluigi Martini 1–14, 16 Paolo Barilla 15 24 Luis Pérez-Sala All Ligier Loto Ligier-Ford JS33 Ford Cosworth DFR V8 25 René Arnoux All 26 Olivier Grouillard All Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari 640 Ferrari Tipo 035/5 V12 27 Nigel Mansell 1–13, 15–16 28 Gerhard Berger 1–2, 4–16 Team Larrousse Lola-Lamborghini LC88BLC89 Lamborghini LE3512 V12 29 Yannick Dalmas 1–6 Éric Bernard 7–8 Michele Alboreto 9–16 30 Philippe Alliot All Coloni Coloni-Ford FC188BC3 Ford Cosworth DFR V8 31 Roberto Moreno All 32 1–10 Enrico Bertaggia 11–16 EuroBrun Racing EuroBrun-Judd ER188BER189 Judd CV V8 33 Gregor Foitek 1–11 Oscar Larrauri 12–16 West Zakspeed Yamaha Zakspeed-Yamaha 891 Yamaha OX88 V8 34 Bernd Schneider All 35 Aguri Suzuki All Moneytron Onyx Formula One Moneytron Onyx-Ford ORE-1 Ford Cosworth DFR V8 36 Stefan Johansson All 37 Bertrand Gachot 1–12 JJ Lehto 13–16 Rial Racing Rial-Ford ARC2 Ford Cosworth DFR V8 38 Christian Danner 1–13 Gregor Foitek 14 Pierre-Henri Raphanel 15–16 39 Volker Weidler 1–10 Pierre-Henri Raphanel 11–14 Bertrand Gachot 15–16 AGS AGS-Ford JH23BJH24 Ford Cosworth DFR V8 40 Gabriele Tarquini 2–16 41 Joachim Winkelhock 1–7 Yannick Dalmas 8–16 FIRST RacingFIRST-JuddF189Judd CV V842 Gabriele Tarquini NoneSource: Despite being on the entry list, the FIRST team did not contest any races. † All engines were 3.5-litre displacement configuration.
Team and driver changes McLaren, having won fifteen of the sixteen races in , kept their successful driver line-up of and World Champion Alain Prost and defending champion Ayrton Senna. They would drive the new MP4/5 powered by a Honda V10 engine.
Ferrari completed the signing of British driver Nigel Mansell, taking the place of Michele Alboreto alongside Austrian Gerhard Berger. The new 640, designed by John Barnard, featured a semi-automatic electronic gearbox, the first of its kind, as well as the team's first 12-cylinder engine since .
Williams recruited Belgian driver Thierry Boutsen from Benetton as Mansell's replacement, alongside veteran Italian Riccardo Patrese. The team had also done a deal with Renault, returning to F1 after a three-year break, that would see them have exclusive use of the French company's V10 engines. For most of the season, Williams ran with the FW12C, an updated version of their 1988 car, before the new FW13 was introduced at the Portuguese Grand Prix.
Lotus kept their 1988 line-up of triple World Champion Nelson Piquet and Satoru Nakajima, but lost their Honda engines. The new Lotus 101, designed by Frank Dernie, used the Judd V8 engine instead.
Benetton retained Alessandro Nannini and signed British rookie Johnny Herbert to replace Boutsen. However, Herbert was still recovering from severe foot injuries sustained in a Formula 3000 crash at Brands Hatch, and was eventually replaced by McLaren test driver Emanuele Pirro. Benetton continued as the de facto works Ford team, but had to make do with the Cosworth DFR-powered 1988 car, the B188, until the new HB-powered B189 was introduced at the French Grand Prix.
Tyrrell retained Jonathan Palmer and took back Alboreto, who had previously driven for the team between and . After a sponsorship dispute, Alboreto was replaced by French newcomer Jean Alesi, who at the same time was on his way to winning the F3000 championship.
The Brabham team returned after missing 1988, with Stefano Modena and Martin Brundle (fresh from winning the 1988 World Sports Prototype Championship) driving the Judd-powered BT58. Both drivers were forced to pre-qualify for the first half of the season.
The French Larrousse team continued running Lola chassis, but ditched the Ford Cosworth V8 engines in favour of the new Lamborghini V12, designed by Mauro Forghieri. The team started the year with their 1988 line-up of Yannick Dalmas and Philippe Alliot, but Dalmas was recovering from Legionnaires' disease and was eventually replaced by Éric Bernard, who in turn made way for Alboreto.
Zakspeed, having produced their own turbo engines since their debut in , were forced to switch to an outside supplier in the form of Yamaha, the Japanese company appearing in F1 for the first time with its own V8 engine. Their new car, the 891, was designed by Gustav Brunner. West German Bernd Schneider, in his second year with the team, and Japan's Aguri Suzuki were both forced to pre-qualify throughout the season .
Osella were one of several teams to expand from one car to two, with Nicola Larini being joined by veteran Piercarlo Ghinzani, returning for a third stint with the team. The all-new FA1M was powered by the Ford Cosworth DFR.
Ligier retained French veteran René Arnoux and signed newcomer Olivier Grouillard, who replaced experienced Swede Stefan Johansson. The team also switched from Judd engines to the Ford Cosworth DFR, powering the new JS33.
AGS had retained Philippe Streiff for 1989, but the Frenchman crashed heavily at Rio while testing prior to the Brazilian Grand Prix, suffering spinal injuries which left him as a quadriplegic and ended his racing career. His place was taken by Gabriele Tarquini, who had planned to drive for the Italian FIRST team that year before they pulled out. AGS also expanded to two cars, the second originally being driven by Joachim Winkelhock, younger brother of the late Manfred Winkelhock.
After FIRST Racing withdrew from the championship, the only entirely new team for 1989 was Onyx Grand Prix, who had previously enjoyed success as the semi-works March team in Formula Two and Formula 3000. The Onyx ORE-1, designed by Alan Jenkins and powered by the Ford Cosworth DFR, was driven by Johansson and Belgian rookie Bertrand Gachot, who would eventually be replaced by Finnish newcomer JJ Lehto.
Regulation changes
Technical regulations In order to combat rising costs, turbocharged engines were banned at the end of , as the governing body felt them to be making the sport dangerous and expensive. However, turbocharged engines returned from the season onwards. The engine displacement was mandated at . In the interest of safety, the driver's feet must be situated behind the front axle-line. This rule had been introduced in 1988 and was mandatory for all new chassis, but any that were a carry-over from were not obliged to comply with the rule which was only made compulsory for all cars from 1989. Due to the loss of the powerful turbo engines, designers were locked in a race to make the cars as aerodynamic as possible, as such designers were introducing cockpits and front ends that were smaller and far more cramped than ever, at the expense of driver comfort. The problem was first highlighted at the opening round in Brazil, with focus on the Ross Brawn-designed Arrows cars. Both drivers, Derek Warwick and Eddie Cheever, suffered severe cramping and felt that the new regulations were in fact making it more dangerous, Cheever saying that "if (he) got sideways ... (he) simply cannot correct with the steering wheel" due to his lanky frame.Grand Prix 1989. Nigel Roebuck and John Townsend. . Page 30, paragraph 11
Sporting and event regulations Race distances were standardised at in order to keep the races within the two-hour time limit. At slower street circuits like Monaco, the set distance could be lower. In 1989, the race distances varied from to , with the aforementioned exceptions. The arrival of the Onyx team, the return of Brabham, and the expansion of other teams from one car to two meant that there were now 39 drivers competing for 26 places on the starting grid. So pre-qualifying was retained from and expanded to 13 cars. The four fastest cars would be allowed into the main qualifying session, from which the 26 fastest cars would be allowed to race. Trackside barriers had to have a minimum height of , with the wall separating the pit lane from the start/finish straight at minimum.
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