The 1989 season for the small Faenza-based team, in its fifth year in Formula 1, ended with one of the best results in its twenty-year history in terms of points and standings. However, this was not enough for Gian Carlo Minardi to secure new commercial partners or exclusive supply contracts. In fact, one such deal vanished when Pirelli, which had supplied Minardi in 1989 as a “main” team, decided this year to give that status to Tyrrell instead, relegating Minardi to a simple customer supply.
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| MINARDI M190, Pierluigi Martini Spa-Francorchamps, Belgian GP 1990 |
Even the team's small sponsors reduced their financial support, forcing the team to operate on a limited and, more importantly, uncertain budget. Another blow came when British engineer Nigel Cowperthwaite, one of the two designers of the M189, moved to Scuderia Italia, leaving the role of technical director to the very young Italian Aldo Costa, assisted by fellow countryman Tommaso Carletti, to develop the new car. The first two rounds of the 1990 season were raced with the slightly updated 1989 car, entrusted to the two Italian drivers Pierluigi Martini and Paolo Barilla, who was embarking on his first full season as a main driver. However, Barilla did not finish the entire season and was replaced in the last two races by Gianni Morbidelli.
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| MINARDI M190, Paolo Barilla Monza, Italian GP 1990 |
From the third race of the season, the Italian team brought the new M190 to the track, a very simple car and a direct descendant of the M189, albeit less competitive and lacking significant technical innovations. The limited capital available to the team did not allow for technical overhauls or for changing the car's mechanical base. The M190 differed from its predecessor mainly in having a slimmer and more pointed nose and a slightly more tapered rear sidepod section. The upper part of the rear bodywork covered the gearbox and suspension, but the lower part, where the exhausts ran, remained exposed.
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| MINARDI M190, Paolo Barilla Montecarlo, Monaco GP 1990 |
Despite using the more powerful Ford-Cosworth DFR V8 engine instead of the DFZ from the previous season, the M190 proved to be lacking in both performance and reliability, so much so that the entire season was plagued by retirements and failures to qualify, with only 9 races completed and an eighth-place finish by Martini at the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka being the best result. To better understand the decline in performance, it's enough to note that the best result of the season for Minardi came from Martini in the very first race in Phoenix, where he qualified second and finished seventh, although that race was contested with the M189B from the previous season.
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| MINARDI M190, Gianni Morbidelli Adelaide, Australian GP 1990 |
Toward the end of the season, thanks to good relations with Cesare Fiorio, Ferrari's sporting director, Gian Carlo Minardi began negotiations with the Maranello-based team for a supply of the Ferrari V12 engine for the 1991 season. This deal was successfully concluded in February 1991, allowing the small Minardi team to face the upcoming season with renewed optimism.
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