1989 Formula 1.5 Season

The 1989 Formula 1.5 Season was the 40th season of the Formula 1.5 World Championship. 1989 saw almost a repeat of the '88 season with Nelson Piquet again pipping Derek Warwick to the World Drivers' Championship, though this time with only 44 points. Also familiar was a young face surprising everyone in third. This one, Jean Alesi - even fresher than Capelli had been the year prior - was called up mid-season from his title winning F3000 campaign to drive for former champions, Tyrrell, After losing in agonising fashion by a single point in 1988, Arrows would bounce back for the new season and snatch their first and only constructors' crown with 70 points, narrowly ahead of Tyrrell and Lotus.

For the final year of the decade, the 1980's ended remarkably similar to how they started, as 1989 was a season in which no team or driver really stamped their authority over the rest. Proving this rather well was the eight different winners we got in the first eight races, with six different teams claiming victory in that span. Two more drivers would notch wins in the season's second half, Stefan Johansson in an Onyx of all things at the Portuguese Grand Prix, and Satoru Nakajima in the second Lotus would claim his first of two career wins in a soaking wet (and title deciding) Australian Grand Prix, extra impressive considering he suffered a spin at turn one and was dead last at the end of the first lap.

Heading into the title decider, it was between 1988's two main protagonists, though this time their positions were swapped with Piquet leading Warwick by a margin of five points. All Nelson had to do was finish on the podium, meanwhile Derek needed to win with Nelson 4th or lower - or if Nelson didn't score, a second place for Derek would suffice. Neither impressed much in qualifying with Piquet 10th and Warwick 12th, though both did admittedly out qualify their respective teammates. Those low grid slots would hurt come race day as torrential rain hit Adelaide. The conditions were so poor that numerous top drivers spun or aquaplaned off the circuit in Sunday's warm-up session, following which Piquet, among numerous other F1 and F1.5 drivers, told the media that the conditions were too poor to race in. After a delay - that didn't improve the conditions much - the race went ahead. It was stopped almost as soon as it had started though as a lap-1 incident involving JJ Lehto had partially blocked the course just after the first chicane. At the still sodden restart, pole-sitter Pierluigi Martini led the field as chaos ensued behind. Arnoux was forced into retirement by Cheever, Philippe Alliot was taken out by Gerhard Berger's F1 McLaren, and then on lap 7 disaster struck for Warwick as a stuck throttle sent him into a spin followed by a concrete wall. He was luckily unhurt but any hopes of taking the title were now shattered. Things were therefore sealed for Piquet, though his race (as was the case for many) wouldn't go without calamity. On lap 19, Piquet was following Piercarlo Ghinzani down the Brabham Straight but could see only a grey wall of spray in front of him. As a consequence Nelson missed his braking markers for the hairpin and ran into the back of the Osella at speed. One of Ghinzani's rear tyres hit Piquet's helmet, though he was fortunately not injured. Ghinzani meanwhile, who was lucky not to hit Martini, had to limp away from his broken Osella and Grand Prix racing as he'd banged his ankle in the incident.

With neither title contender finishing you could say things ended with a bit of an anticlimax, though the year itself had been filled with unpredictability and could easily be described as a free-for-all. From week to week no team was guaranteed much of an advantage and the championship picture wasn't clear until the last couple of races. Even then multiple drivers from multiple teams still stood a chance. In the end we saw an impressive recovery from Piquet. A poor start saw him pointless five rounds into the season, but he clawed his way back and reclaimed the title despite the chaos that was 1989.

## Entries

### Excluded teams

* Honda Marlboro McLaren, Canon Williams Team, Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC, and Benetton Formula Ltd

## Results & standings

### World Drivers' Championship standings

Points towards the 1989 World Championship of Drivers were awarded on a 9–6–4–3–2–1 basis for the first six positions in each race. Only the best eleven results counted towards the championship

Legend:  **Bold** = Pole Position;  *Italics* = Fastest Lap

### World Constructors' Championship standings

Points towards the 1989 World Championship of Constructors were awarded on a 9–6–4–3–2–1 basis for the first six positions in each race. All points earned by a constructor were retained towards their final total.

Legend:  **Bold** = Pole Position;  *Italics* = Fastest Lap