The successful 1989 season brought significant benefits to Ken Tyrrell’s team, especially on the financial front, with the arrival of a new sponsor, Epson, which injected fresh liquidity into the British outfit. This financial boost allowed the team to expand its workforce by hiring thirty new staff members. In addition to the new sponsorship deal, Ken Tyrrell also managed to strike an agreement with McLaren executive Ron Dennis. Dennis committed to putting the British team in contact with some of his sponsors and assured Tyrrell that starting from 1991, they would have access to the updated Honda engine, which was then exclusive to Ron Dennis’s team. In the first two races of the 1990 championship, the team used a slightly modified version of the previous year's car, the “018”, which surprisingly achieved a second and a sixth place in its debut race in Brazil. From the third round onward, the Tyrrell Racing Organisation introduced the new Tyrrell 019.
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| TYRRELL 019, Jean Alesi Hermanos Rodriguez, Mexican GP 1990 |
Designed by Harvey Postlethwaite and Jean-Claude Migeot, both with past experience at Ferrari, along with new technical director Joan Villadelprat, who also came from the Maranello team, the new 019 retained the solid foundation of the 1989 car but introduced significant innovations in terms of aerodynamics. One area in particular captured the attention of the designers: the underbody airflow capable of generating downforce by creating a low-pressure air mass. What Postlethwaite and Migeot realized was that the efficiency of this low-pressure generation system was seriously compromised by the low-positioned nose at the front of the car, which diverted the airflow sideways and upward, thereby reducing the amount of air passing underneath. However, the creation of low pressure relies on increasing the speed of the air passing under the car’s flat bottom compared to the air moving over and around it. Simply put, the more air that flows under the car, the faster it moves, and the faster it moves, the greater the downforce generated.
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| TYRRELL 019, Jean Alesi Montecarlo, Monaco GP 1990 |
By raising the car’s nose, Postlethwaite and his team increased the volume of air that could flow underneath the car. At the same time, the efficiency of the front wing profiles improves the closer they are to the ground, which is why the wing was designed with a distinctive inverted V-shape. The high nose concept had actually been conceived years earlier by Migeot, who had drafted a design in 1986 during his time at Ferrari, but the Maranello team had shelved the idea. The 019 proved effective and easy to set up right from the start. The switch from Goodyear to Pirelli tires also helped Tyrrell, as the Italian supplier gave the British team preferential treatment, including front-section-customized tires and tailor-made compounds. Even the Ford-Cosworth V8 engine used in the 019 wasn't a standard unit; it was specially prepared by Brian Hart, which allowed it to reach a slightly higher rev limit than the classic DFR.
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| TYRRELL 019, Satoru Nakajima Hungaroring, Hungarian GP 1990 |
The 019 made its debut at Imola, home of the San Marino Grand Prix and the third round of the 1990 championship, driven by the team's two official drivers: Japanese driver Satoru Nakajima, included in anticipation of the 1991 Honda partnership, and returning French talent Jean Alesi, who immediately delivered excellent results, finishing sixth at Imola and an impressive second in Monaco. In the middle part of the season, Nakajima was plagued by reliability issues, while Alesi frequently hovered near the points. The 019 returned to the points toward the end of the season, with Nakajima securing two sixth-place finishes.
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| TYRRELL 019, Satoru Nakajima Monza, Italian GP 1990 |
The 16 points scored over the year earned Tyrrell fifth place in the Constructors' Championship, what would remain the best result in the final seasons of the historic British team's presence in Formula 1.
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