Ferrari 640

The Ferrari 640 (also known as the Ferrari F1/89) was the Formula One racing car with which the Ferrari team competed in the season. It was driven by Britain's Nigel Mansell, in his first season with the team, and Austria's Gerhard Berger.

The car was designed by John Barnard, and it was the first Ferrari he was responsible for designing. It sported a sharp nose, with a narrow monocoque and bulging side-pods designed to house the radiators with maximum aerodynamic efficiency. It originally had two small air intakes either side of the driver, but from the fourth race of the season in Mexico a more conventional large air intake above and behind the driver was specified.

The 640 was powered by Ferrari's own 3.5 litre V12 engine which produced up to 660bhp, a fine effort considering that it was the team's first naturally aspirated engine for almost a decade. The transmission that it was mated to, however, attracted more attention, as it contained the very first 7-speed semi-automatic gearbox seen in F1. In its first season, it proved to be very unreliable, and hampered Ferrari's efforts throughout the year. However, such gearboxes would become the norm by the mid-1990s. Much of the development work was conducted by test driver Roberto Moreno during the winter season.

The car proved to be fast, and Mansell took it to victory in its début race in Brazil, despite fears of unreliability. However, it did not record another finish until the French Grand Prix, and there were to be no races in which both drivers finished. But when the car did finish, it did so in a position no lower than third, with Mansell taking second in both France and his home race at Silverstone, third in Germany, a second win in Hungary and finally third at Spa, before Berger finished second at Monza, won in Portugal - a race where the Ferraris were clearly more competitive than the championship-winning McLarens - and finished second again in Spain.

The carbon-fibre chassis also proved to be very strong, allowing Berger to escape from a fiery high-speed crash at Imola with only minor burns to his hands and a couple of broken ribs.

At the end of the season, Mansell was fourth in the Drivers' Championship with 38 points, while Berger was seventh with 21. Ferrari battled with Williams for second in the Constructors' Championship for much of the year but ultimately settled for third, with 59 points.

For the 1990 season, the 640 was replaced with the 641.

Complete Formula One results
(key) (results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)