1989 Formula One Season

## 1989 FIA Formula One World Championship

Alain Prost on the podium of the 1989 Belgian Grand Prix

The **1989 Formula One season** was the 40th season of the FIA Formula One World Championship. The championship comprised of 16 races, with the World Drivers' Championship won by Frenchman Alain Prost, and McLaren-Honda won the Constructors' Championship.

In a season marred by tragedy and controversy, Alain Prost prevailed to take his fourth World Championship from teammate and arch rival, defending World Champion Ayrton Senna.

The French Grand Prix saw the death of 28-year-old Frenchman Pierre-Henri Raphanel, as he crashed his Coloni during pre-qualifying. Raphanel lost control of his car at the flat out Signes corner at Circuit Paul Ricard, hitting the barriers at an estimated 170 mph (274 km/h).

## Technical and rules changes

The long discussed engine rules were enacted: engines are limited to a maximum capacity of 3.5 litres (210 cubic inches), with not more than 12 cylinders, and induction must be by natural aspiration; in other words, superchargers, turbochargers, and compressors are forbidden. As a result, for the first time ever, all Formula One entrants' engine displacement were standardized.

Race distances were also standardised at 305 kilometres (190 mi), except at the slower street circuits like Monaco, in order to keep the races within the two-hour time limit. In 1989, the race distances varied from 292 kilometres (181 mi) to 311 kilometres (193 mi), with the aforementioned exceptions. Minimum heights were introduced for trackside barriers: 1 m (3.3 ft), except the pitwall barrier which was 1.35 m (4.4 ft). Drug testing, based on the IOC model was introduced.

## Drivers and constructors

The following teams and drivers competed in the 1989 FIA Formula One World Championship.

### Team changes

* Pirelli returned to the sport after a brief absence, and supplied tyres for Brabham, Coloni, EuroBrun, Minardi, Osella, Scuderia Italia, and Zakspeed. Goodyear continued to supply the remaining teams.
* Brabham returned after their sojourn, using a Judd powerplant for their latest entry. Their contract with Judd stipulated that they received equal treatment as March, who were the "unofficial" works partner for Judd's normally aspirated engines.
* Lotus lost the use of Honda engines, so they switched to a Judd engine for 1989.
* Announced in June 1988, after a three-year break as a result of the manufacturer's restructuring, Renault returned to Formula One as an engine supplier. Williams would be the beneficiaries of a new partnership, gaining exclusive use of the French company's V10 engines, and had already undergone extensive testing in a FW12B chassis.
* With the turbo ban, Arrows were forced to look elsewhere for an engine supply, as their previous Megatron engines were now outlawed. They signed a three-year engine deal with the Mercedes-Benz-backed Ilmor Engineering.
* Larrousse continued running Lola chassis, but ditched the Ford Cosworth V8 engines in favour of the new Lamborghini V12, designed by Mauro Forghieri.
* Zakspeed, having produced their own turbo engines since their debut in 1985, 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.
* 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. They were financially backed by Belgian economist Jean-Pierre Van Rossem, and featured sponsorship from his investment company, Moneytron.

### Driver changes

* Unusually, several top teams chose not to replace drivers in the off-season. Arrows, Benetton, Ferrari, Lotus, and McLaren all retained their 1988 line-ups.
* Tyrrell dropped both Jonathan Palmer and Julian Bailey. Jonathan Palmer moved to McLaren to become the team's test driver. Former British Formula 3 champion Johnny Herbert would make his debut for the team, driving alongside Michele Alboreto, who returned to the team where he took wins in 1982 and 1983.
* Martin Brundle was dropped by Williams, and replaced by Joey Davies, who impressed Frank Williams with a series of marvellous performances in 1988 with March, including a trio of second places. Riccardo Patrese remained in the other seat.
* Brundle was signed up by Brabham, who paired him with Stefano Modena, who left EuroBrun.
* AGS paired Gabriele Tarquini and Joachim Winkelhock in an attempt to get out of pre-qualifying.
* Maurício Gugelmin replaced Joey Davies at the Leyton House March team, driving alongside Ivan Capelli.
* Piercarlo Ghinzani, dropped by Zakspeed during 1988, returned to partner Nicola Larini at Osella.
* Andrea de Cesaris took his significant tobacco sponsorship money to Scuderia Italia, where he would partner Alex Caffi.
* Pierluigi Martini returned to the sport after three years in the International Formula 3000 series, where he won several races. Martini reunited with Minardi, as the team's first ever driver returned home. Luis Pérez-Sala moved over from Larrousse.
* International Formula 3000 veteran and occasional Touring Car racer Olivier Grouillard was chosen to partner the dependable René Arnoux at Ligier.
* Philippe Alliot was partnered by another Frenchman, Yannick Dalmas (who moved over from Osella), at Larrousse.
* Bernd Schneider remained at Zakspeed, and to appease new engine partner Yamaha, Aguri Suzuki would take the second seat.
* Coloni completely changed their line-up, signing Roberto Moreno and Pierre-Henri Raphanel.
* Rial leaned into the company's German roots, signing Christian Danner (formerly of Zakspeed) and Volker Weidler, a former German Formula 3 champion who had shown promise in F3000.

### Mid-season changes

* Rial pulled out of the sport before the weekend of the Belgian Grand Prix, having only qualified for four races since joining the grid in 1988, and their last race start at the 1988 Australian Grand Prix.
* Following a crash during qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix, Joey Davies was side-lined for two races. He was replaced by Coloni driver, Roberto Moreno.
* Moreno was replaced at Coloni by Enrico Bertaggia whilst he deputised for Davies. Following the death of Pierre-Henri Raphanel, Bertaggia returned to the team for the rest of the season.
* Michele Alboreto's relationship with Ken Tyrrell turned sour, with Alboreto making comments regarding Tyrrell's poor start to the season. By the French Grand Prix, Ken Tyrrell had found a new sponsor in Camel cigarettes for the race, and told Alboreto to end his personal sponsorship deal with Marlboro, a rival brand to Camel. Alboreto was disappointed, as thanks to his Marlboro backing, the team had managed to fund his wages. Following Alboreto's refusal to cut his ties with his sponsor, Tyrrell replaced him with the up-and-coming Jean Alesi.
* In a bid to try and maximise their strong performances in pre-qualifying, EuroBrun fired Gregor Foitek, replacing him with International Formula 3000 driver JJ Lehto from the German Grand Prix onwards.
* Olivier Grouillard's punishment for disappointing performances, including failing to qualify for four consecutive races, was being dropped for the final two rounds, replaced at Ligier by Michele Alboreto.

## Season calendar

Sixteen races were scheduled for the 1989 season.

The following Grand Prix was planned as a reserve venue:

### Calendar changes

* The initial draft calendar had the United States Grand Prix remaining in Detroit, but away from the streets around the Renaissance Center to a new, permanent facility built on Belle Isle, a city park in the Detroit River. FISA criticised the existing circuit, declaring that its temporary pits and garages were not of the required standard for a World Championship race. The move to Belle Isle met with fierce local opposition, both public and political. In October 1988, the Belle Isle plan was scrapped, and Formula One left Detroit. Initially, the date was given to Laguna Seca Raceway in California, which had recently hosted the United States motorcycle Grand Prix, despite the Austrian Grand Prix being the first reserve in the event of a withdrawal. In January 1989, the announcement was made that the U.S. Grand Prix would move to Phoenix, Arizona. A five-year contract was signed for a 3.8 kilometres (2.4 miles) circuit to be constructed around the city's Convention Center.

## Season Results

### Points scoring system

Points were awarded to the top six finishers in each race as follows:

### World Drivers' Championship standings

Only the best eleven results counted towards each driver's championship total; total points scored are displayed within parentheses.

Notes

* † – Driver did not finish the Grand Prix, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

### World Constructors' Championship standings

Points towards the 1989 FIA Formula One World Championship for Constructors were awarded on a 9–6–4–3–2–1 basis for the top six placed cars at each round. All results were counted (not just best eleven rounds).

## Notes

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://www.f1technical.net/articles/26