Since 1983, Enzo Osella’s team had not brought an entirely new and original car to the track. For the 1989 season, the new FA1M, although closely related to the previous FA1L, marked the definitive break from Alfa Romeo components, which the small Osella team had been using since 1983. That was the year Carlo Chiti’s Autodelta allowed Enzo Osella to use the old naturally aspirated 1260 V12 Alfa Romeo engine, along with many mechanical parts from the older Alfa 182s. In the following years, Alfa-Romeo Turbos always equipped the single-seaters of the small team from Volpiano, but from 1989 the new regulations, which banned turbo engines from the grid, forced Osella’s team to go back to basics, fitting a Ford-Cosworth V8 engine, specifically, the new-generation 3.5-litre DFR.
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| OSELLA FA1M, Nicola Larini Estoril, Portuguese GP 1989 |
The engine from the British supplier was installed on a brand-new chassis developed specifically by the small Italian outfit, designed by engineer Antonio Tomaini, formerly of Ferrari, who had also created the preceding FA1L. However, the limited budget of the small Italian team was clearly reflected in the design of the new single-seater, which remained virtually unchanged in form from the 1988 car. Under the surface, aside from the chassis, little else was different eithe, understandable given that a significant financial effort had already been made in 1988 to produce a car with a completely new and distinct mechanical foundation compared to previous Osella models.
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| OSELLA FA1M, Nicola Larini Adelaide, Australian GP 1989 |
The Fondmetal brand, owned by industrialist Gabriele Rumi from Brescia, had made a modest appearance on the FA1L’s bodywork in 1988, but now became the main sponsor, bringing a decent financial contribution to the Osella Squadra Corse team. This allowed Tomaini to further develop his project using modern tools, resulting in a respectable single-seater, though still severely limited by financial constraints when compared to the budgets of the larger teams.
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| OSELLA FA1M, Nicola Larini Jacarepaguà, Brazilian GP 1989 |
The new FA1M was slightly more streamlined and slender than its 1988 predecessor with the old turbo engine. Unfortunately, the high number of entries for the 1989 Formula One World Championship, 39 in total, required pre-qualifying sessions, a difficult hurdle to overcome. For the two official drivers, Italians Nicola Larini and Piercarlo Ghinzani, these sessions often proved to be an insurmountable obstacle. Paradoxically, when the car did qualify (three times with Ghinzani and seven with Larini), it performed quite respectably, even achieving decent results such as Larini’s eleventh-place starts in Spain and Australia, and a tenth in Japan. However, the car never reached the finish line, not even once, due to its extreme fragility.
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| OSELLA FA1M, Piercarlo Ghinzani Phoenix, United States GP 1989 |
The FA1M was used again in the first two races of the 1990 season, driven by Frenchman Olivier Grouillard, but suffered two more retirements.
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