The revolution launched in September 1989 by Jean-Pierre Van Rossem, owner of Moneytron, through the dismissal of the former team owner Mike Earle and the driver change, replacing Frenchman Bertrand Gachot with Finnish driver Jyrki Juhani Järvilehto, better known as JJ Lehto, did not produce the desired results. In fact, over the winter, the situation within the team worsened even more. After clashes with Bernie Ecclestone and Jean-Marie Balestre, Van Rossem threatened to leave Formula 1 altogether if he failed to secure a deal with a supplier for a competitive multi-cylinder engine for the 1990 season.
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| ONYX ORE-1B, JJ Letho Hungaroring, Hungarian GP 1990 |
Naturally, unable to find what he needed, the Belgian financier took the opportunity to sell the team, on the verge of financial collapse, to the Japanese group Middlebridge, which in turn sold 50% of the team to Swiss-Italian racing enthusiast Peter Monteverdi and 25% to fellow countryman Karl Foitek, whose son Gregor was racing in Formula 1 with Brabham. As a result of these maneuvers, Greg Field, who had just returned as a collaborator of Alan Jenkins to work on the already ongoing but never completed ORE-2 chassis project, left the team for the second time.
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| ONYX ORE-1, JJ Letho Phoenix, United States GP 1990 |
Mike Earle, who had been dismissed just a few months earlier by Van Rossem, was reinstated in the team, and Peter Rheinardt was hired as team manager. Jenkins’ refusal to work alongside Earle led to Jenkins being fired, and he left the team together with Rheinardt. In short, this constant reshuffling completely stalled the development of the new car and forced the Onyx team to face the first race of the 1990 season with the same chassis used in 1989. Without the Moneytron logo and driven by the same drivers from the previous season, Swede Stefan Johansson and Finn JJ Lehto, the old ORE-1 hit the track in the opening race in Phoenix, identical in every way to the car that had finished the previous year.
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| ONYX ORE-1B, Gregor Foitek Hockenheimring, German GP 1990 |
Starting from the second race in Brazil, although still listed as Moneytron Onyx Formula One Team in the FIA’s starting list, the Monteverdi name began appearing on the car. By the San Marino Grand Prix, the third race of the season, a new “B” version of the car debuted with a revised livery, maintaining the blue base but replacing Moneytron’s fuchsia with Monteverdi’s green. Also in Imola, Swiss driver Gregor Foitek, whose father owns 25% of the team, replaced Johansson, whose contract with the Swiss team for the 1990 season was abruptly broken. This move turned out to be a mistake, as Johansson sued the new ownership and won, forcing Onyx to pay a heavy penalty.
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| ONYX ORE-1B, Gregor Foitek Montecarlo, Monaco GP 1990 |
Due to increasing financial and legal difficulties, only in July was Peter Monteverdi able to officially change the team’s name from Moneytron Onyx to Monteverdi Onyx and relocated the team to a new facility in Switzerland. However, the accumulation of unpaid bills, the debt to Johansson, and Karl Foitek’s withdrawal along with his financial support forced Monteverdi to shut down the team shortly after the Hungarian Grand Prix in mid-August, skipping the rest of the season. Despite all this, the ORE-1B managed to secure seventh place in the Monaco Grand Prix with Foitek, allowing the team to rank thirteenth in the constructors' standings, albeit without scoring any points.
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