The sixteen races of 1989 were less a championship than a knife-fight inside a single garage. At McLaren-Honda, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna shared 10 of the year's wins (Prost 4, Senna 6) while the rest of the grid fought for scraps. McLaren's constructors haul of 141 points nearly doubled Williams's 77. The title went to Prost (76 points) — though Senna crossed the line first at more Grands Prix.

Suzuka, the Chicane, the Disqualification

Round 15 at Suzuka decided it. Senna, needing the win, collided with Prost at the final chicane as Prost turned in; both cars beached. Prost climbed out. Senna was restarted by marshals, cut the chicane, pitted for a new front wing and went on to beat Nannini over the line — only for the FIA stewards to disqualify him for missing the chicane. Prost was champion, and a year of cold-war paddock politics between the Frenchman and his boss Jean-Marie Balestre burst into public view. Senna never accepted the decision; 1990's Suzuka would be his revenge.

Ferrari, Mansell and the Semi-Automatic

Prost announced mid-season that he was leaving McLaren for Ferrari in 1990 — the first time a reigning champion defected to the Scuderia since Lauda in 1977. Nigel Mansell, in his first Ferrari year, drove the revolutionary John Barnard 640, the first Formula One car with a semi-automatic paddle-shift gearbox. He won on debut in Brazil and produced one of the great overtakes of the decade at Hungary, passing Senna around the outside while lapping a backmarker (Stefan Johansson's Onyx) on lap 58. The gearbox was unreliable all year but the concept reshaped the sport.

New Faces, Wet Epics

Thierry Boutsen (Williams-Renault) won the wet Canadian and Australian Grands Prix — the Adelaide finale started behind the safety car amid biblical rain and Senna famously crashed into the back of Brundle's Brabham. Jean Alesi made a sensational debut for Tyrrell at Paul Ricard, finishing fourth. The 3.5-litre naturally-aspirated formula, in its first season, was here to stay.

Race Calendar

Rnd	Grand Prix	Circuit	Date	Winner
01	Brazilian GP Autódromo Internacional Nelson Piquet	Autódromo Internacional Nelson Piquet	26 Mar 1989	MansellFerrari
02	San Marino GP Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari	Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari	23 Apr 1989	SennaMcLaren
03	Monaco GP Circuit de Monaco	Circuit de Monaco	7 May 1989	SennaMcLaren
04	Mexican GP Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez	Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez	28 May 1989	SennaMcLaren
05	United States GP Phoenix street circuit	Phoenix street circuit	4 Jun 1989	ProstMcLaren
06	Canadian GP Circuit Gilles Villeneuve	Circuit Gilles Villeneuve	18 Jun 1989	BoutsenWilliams
07	French GP Circuit Paul Ricard	Circuit Paul Ricard	9 Jul 1989	ProstMcLaren
08	British GP Silverstone Circuit	Silverstone Circuit	16 Jul 1989	ProstMcLaren
09	German GP Hockenheimring	Hockenheimring	30 Jul 1989	SennaMcLaren
10	Hungarian GP Hungaroring	Hungaroring	13 Aug 1989	MansellFerrari
11	Belgian GP Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps	27 Aug 1989	SennaMcLaren
12	Italian GP Autodromo Nazionale di Monza	Autodromo Nazionale di Monza	10 Sept 1989	ProstMcLaren
13	Portuguese GP Autódromo do Estoril	Autódromo do Estoril	24 Sept 1989	BergerFerrari
14	Spanish GP Circuito de Jerez	Circuito de Jerez	1 Oct 1989	SennaMcLaren
15	Japanese GP Suzuka Circuit	Suzuka Circuit	22 Oct 1989	NanniniBenetton
16	Australian GP Adelaide Street Circuit	Adelaide Street Circuit	5 Nov 1989	BoutsenWilliams

P	Driver	Pts	W
	Alain Prost	76	4
2	Ayrton Senna	60	6
3	Riccardo Patrese	40	0
4	Nigel Mansell	38	2
5	Thierry Boutsen	37	2
6	Alessandro Nannini	32	1
7	Gerhard Berger	21	1
8	Nelson Piquet	12	0
9	Jean Alesi	8	0
10	Derek Warwick	7	0
11	Eddie Cheever	6	0
12	Stefan Johansson	6	0
13	Michele Alboreto	6	0
14	Johnny Herbert	5	0
15	Pierluigi Martini	5	0
16	Maurício Gugelmin	4	0
17	Andrea de Cesaris	4	0
18	Stefano Modena	4	0
19	Alex Caffi	4	0
20	Martin Brundle	4	0

Data via Jolpica/Ergast · Telemetry not available