The Dallara F189 designed by Gian Paolo Dallara and Mario Tollentino and was an evolution of the previous year's Dallara F188. It was powered by Cosworth DFRV8 engines prepared by Heini Mader.
Race history
For 1989, BMS Scuderia Italia expanded to a two car team. Alex Caffi remained on the roster, joined by the very experienced Andrea de Cesaris. As Caffi scored no points in, and de Cesaris had scored three points for Rial, this actually meant that Caffi was bumped into pre-qualifying for the first half of the season. However, with a good car and Pirelli's generally strong qualifying tyres this normally was not much of a problem for Caffi. In the team's other entry, de Cesaris qualified in 15th place for the season opening Brazilian Grand Prix and was classified 13th even though engine problems meant he failed to finish. His best race was in Canada when, in a rain-affected event, he finished third from ninth on the grid. This, his only points finish of the year, was the first of two podiums achieved by Scuderia Italia in Formula One and would prove to be de Cesaris' last ever podium finish in Formula One. At the following race in France he failed to qualify, though he made every other race, mostly in the second half of the grid. Caffi in the meantime failed to pre-qualify in Brazil and he would repeat this feat later in the year at the British Grand Prix. These proved to be anomalies as he made the field for the other 14 races of the season, usually ahead of De Cesaris, and in some cases well inside the top half of the grid. He qualified sixth in Phoenix and ran as high as second at one point before retiring after suffering suspension damage when he was pushed into a concrete barrier while attempting to lap his own team mate Andrea de Cesaris. Later in the year, in Hungary, Caffi did even better by placing his F189 third on the grid behind only the McLaren-Honda of defending World ChampionAyrton Senna and the pole winning Williams-Renault of Riccardo Patrese, both using more powerful V10 engines. This failed to translate into points however, and he was only seventh in the race itself. Caffi finished in the points on two occasions; fourth at Monaco and sixth in Canada, the only race at which both Dallara drivers finished in the points. These points saw Caffi 'graduate' and not have to pre-qualify for the second half of the season. By the end of the season, Caffi was ranked 13th, alongside De Cesaris, in the Drivers' Championship with four points. Meanwhile, BMS Scuderia Italia's eight points in total placed them eighth in the Constructors' Championship.
