Formula 1

About the season

The 1989 season opened with turbo engines banned outright: every team now had to run a 3.5-litre normally aspirated engine, with Renault and Honda entering the year with brand-new V10 layouts never before used in Formula 1. On lap 47 of the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, Ayrton Senna collided with teammate Alain Prost's McLaren while trying to pass him into the chicane, a crash that decided the championship. Prost did not yield in the collision; Senna rejoined the race after cutting through the chicane rather than the proper track, finished, but was later disqualified over exactly that irregularity. After his disqualification, Senna openly accused Jean-Marie Balestre and FISA of political interference, an accusation that poisoned his relationship with both the governing body and Prost for years. It was Prost's final season at McLaren: his relationship with Senna had deteriorated so badly that he signed for Ferrari for the following year. Alain Prost won the 1989 Drivers' Championship with 76 points (McLaren), 16 points ahead of the runner-up. McLaren won the Constructors' Championship with 141 points, 64 points ahead of the runner-up. Across 16 completed races this season, there were 235 retirements. 6 different drivers won a race this season. Ayrton Senna took the most race wins, 6 in total. Mansell won the season-opening race, the Brazilian Grand Prix. The most dominant win of the season came at the Monaco Grand Prix, with a margin of 52.5 seconds. Danner made the biggest gain of the season at the United States Grand Prix, from grid position 26 to finishing 4 (up 22 places). The United States Grand Prix saw the most retirements of the season, with 19 drivers failing to finish. The season's biggest upset win came from Mansell at the Hungarian Grand Prix, starting from grid position 12. The closest finish of the season came at the Belgian Grand Prix, with a gap of just 1.304 seconds. Boutsen won the Australian Grand Prix, the final race of the season.