Formula 1 was in a state of change 35 years ago. The explosive but expensive turbo era was over, and a new formula for normally aspirate engines encouraged a raft of new entrants.
When FISA (now the FIA) closed entries for the new season at the end of January, a record 40 cars had signed up. These were drawn from 21 teams in all, two putting forward single-car entries, as was allowed at the time.The last of those – ironically named First – never made it to the start of the season. Nonetheless 39 cars, one shy of twice today’s entry, turned up for almost all of that years races.
There were three exceptions during the course of the year. AGS driver Philippe Streiff was badly injured in testing, suffering paralysis which ended his grand prix career, so the team only entered a single car for the season-opener.
Other drivers swapped teams over the course of the season, and a total of 47 different names appeared. With 39 cars vying for places on a 26-car grid, one-third would not get to start, and qualifying therefore took on far greater significance than today.
An opening ‘pre-qualifying’ session for up to 13 cars from the lowest-ranked teams based on their previous constructors championship positions was held at every round. At first these included the likes of Brabham, who hadn’t contested the 1988 season.
Only four cars progressed from pre-qualifying, meaning nine drivers’ weekends ended at that point. A further four dropped out at the end of the qualifying session. Some never made the cut at all: Aguri Suzuki turned up for all 16 rounds and never once pre-qualified his Zakspeed.
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The prospects of F1 ever allowing a field as large as this again are beyond remote. At present it remains to be seen whether F1 will welcome Andretti as an 11th team, following the approval granted by the FIA last year. Even if that happens the grid will still be four cars short of capacity, so no one need worry about failing to qualify for a race, yet alone pre-qualify.
1989 Formula 1 entry list
| Team | Driver 1 | Driver 2 |
|---|---|---|
| McLaren | Ayrton Senna | Alain Prost |
| Tyrrell | Jonathan Palmer | Michele Alboreto |
| Williams | Thierry Boutsen | Riccardo Patrese |
| Brabham | Stefano Modena | Martin Brundle |
| Arrows | Eddie Cheever | Derek Warwick |
| Lotus | Nelson Piquet | Satoru Nakajima |
| Leyton House | Mauricio Gugelmin | Ivan Capelli |
| Osella | Piercarlo Ghinzani | Nicola Larini |
| Benetton | Johnny Herbert | Alessandro Nannini |
| Scuderia Italia | Alex Caffi | Andrea de Cesaris |
| Minardi | Luis Perez-Sala | Pierluigi Martini |
| Ligier | Rene Arnoux | Olivier Grouillard |
| Ferrari | Nigel Mansell | Gerhard Berger |
| Larrousse | Philippe Alliot | Yannick Dalmas |
| Coloni | Pierre-Henri Raphanel | Roberto Moreno |
| EuroBrun | Gregor Foitek | |
| Zakspeed | Bernd Schneider | Aguri Suzuki |
| Onyx | Stefan Johansson | Bertrand Gachot |
| Rial | Christian Danner | Volker Weidler |
| AGS | Philippe Streiff | Joachim Winkelhock |
| First | Gabriele Tarquini |
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The F1 field of 1989
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F1 history
- F1’s 10 longest-running teams – and why most of them have been lost
- What have 10 years of F1’s V6 hybrid turbo era shown us? The naysayers were wrong
- Pictures: The highs and lows of Haas’ eight years under Guenther Steiner
- America’s 10km monster track of the future – and F1’s lost giants of the past
- Timeline: Ferrari to ‘Stake’ – the 33 historic identities of Formula 1’s 10 teams
Derek Edwards
31st January 2024, 13:54
The picture caption seems to imply that Patrese won a race in 1989 but he had to wait until the following year.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
31st January 2024, 13:59
Yes that was clumsily worded – revised it now thanks.
Asd
31st January 2024, 14:29
Oh, so many beautiful cars. And the amazing Ferrari 640 early version without the top air inlet <3
The tyre sizes were perfect and the car sizes/dimension were also perfect. 215cm of width, YES!!
Then they reduced their width to 200cm in 1993, which was ok. Although what wasn't ok was making the rear tyres much narrower.
For 2 decades from 1998 to 2016 we had the abysmal, absolutely pathetic 180cm narrow, F3 looking F1 cars.
They fixed that awful error in 2017 bringing the cars width back to 200cm.
Unfortunately, they're at it again and we're gonna have narrower, 190cm wide cars from 2026 on, bringing F1 cars down to the width of F2 cars. I hate this so much….
mmertens (@mmertens)
31st January 2024, 14:51
I loved Onyx and Rial liveries! Also it was terrifyingly fun to watch the pre qualifying sessions back then! The heroics needed to qualify for some of the backmarkers were incredible! I wish we could have the sessions available on F1TV . I had some obscure VHS from Fuji TV where the season review’s covered the prequalifying sessions (due to Aguri Suzuki presumably), and it was really cool! Also, one of the most fun I had when doing sims was trying to do a full season with Coloni on RFactor 1989 season mod. Just to get thru prequalifying was amazing, and then trying to beat 4 cars in qualifying was very fun. I wish we had a full F1 1989 retro game in modern sim standards, that would be awesome. At least now we can do a bit in Automobilista 2 , where mods are finally bridging the gaps on cars and liveries, but I can only imagine a fully recreated 1989 season in a modern sim. One can dream .
MurasamaRA300 (@murasamara300)
31st January 2024, 14:57
I completely missed the Rfactor 1989 mod – sounds like a fun idea to try and get through a season with one of the weakest teams.
Maybe time to reinstall it…
MurasamaRA300 (@murasamara300)
31st January 2024, 14:54
That blue Rial looked great.
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
31st January 2024, 15:09
Not sure F1 needs half a grid that cannot qualify nowadays, running at capacity should be the aim instead.
Leksa (@leksa)
31st January 2024, 15:13
Wish there were still that many teams and cars. The more the merrier.
Today’s 20-car-grid looks so miserable, especially in those weekend when F3 are racing with their healthy 30-car-grid. Can’t believe Liberty thinks 10 is an optimal number of team. 13 should be the bare minimum.
Everyone who wants to join should be allowed to do so without a say from other teams. If there are less than 13 teams, that share of price money should not go to the teams but FIA, who then gives it to new entries as an incentive.
MurasamaRA300 (@murasamara300)
31st January 2024, 16:53
Absolutely!
Nominate for COTD.
ferrox glideh (@ferrox-glideh)
31st January 2024, 17:13
This is the way!
anon
31st January 2024, 20:51
@leksa when you refer to “F3 are racing with their healthy 30-car-grid” – most of that is due to the forced amalgamation of junior series into a far smaller number of championships, which is designed to create a proscribed narrow route for drivers wanting to move through junior series into Formula 1.
Roger Ayles (@roger-ayles)
31st January 2024, 15:25
I really miss the days where the regulations were open enough that every car looked different with so many different design philosophies & as well as multiple different engine configurations all producing completely different sounds.
Having a grid full of variety will always be way more interesting than a grid full of practically identical looking cars due to how pathetically restrictive the regulations are now that the show has been put above the sport.
Same with other categories, I hate how essentially everything below F1 has become spec categories rather than featuring different chassis, engines, tyres etc… as was once the case.
Indycar is the biggest shame in that regard as the Indycar series of today is a shadow of the CART glory days where it could actually be considered a true alternative to F1 rather than just another spec car lower series as it is now. Tony George & all his cronies should be ashamed of themselves for what they did all in the pursuit of power.
Asd
31st January 2024, 18:01
“I really miss the days where the regulations were open enough that every car looked different with so many different design philosophies…”
Roger, the reality of today is that no matter how wide you would open the regulations, all the cars would look the same regardless. Computer simulations have figured out aerodynamics long time ago.
It’s no longer a designer coming up with random ideas in the dark. All the teams have the same computers coming to the same conclusions for them. In a very short while all the teams will have AI design the same perfect car for each of them and the variety between designs will be close to zero. Sad but true.
Minardi (@gitanes)
31st January 2024, 16:04
On one hand, I loved having all of those different designs, drivers, and liveries, but yeah….most of those teams were at least 5 seconds off the pace, so it would all be a little disappointing with today’s reliability. But the fact that F1 has consigned itself to only 10 teams is really disappointing. I’d have been satisfied with the addition of just one or two more; but today’s news about rejecting Andretti makes me want to completely stop supporting or watching or rooting for F1 at all.
Chris Horton
31st January 2024, 17:27
@keithcollantine the irony of this being posted today now we’ve had the Andretti announcement isn’t lost on me.
Bring back 1989.
MarkWebber (@markwebber)
1st February 2024, 1:22
Ecclestone and Balestre saw how a complex and expensive engine was ruining the sport, engines that were much more road-relevant than current hybrids, and yet they decided to go back to the old and simple engines with extraordinary results. F1 needs that philosophy back more than ever.
Jon
1st February 2024, 14:40
For me endurance racing is getting better than F1. The entire turbo hybrid era been disaster.
reyhan
3rd February 2024, 11:11
terimakasih infonya bermanfaat