Tyrrell 019

 

Although the 018 had a modestly successful season in 1989, Harvey Postlethwaite did not rest on his laurels. Postlethwaite was an experienced F1 engineer, having previously built race-winning cars for Hesketh, Wolf and Ferrari, and so was well placed to spot the shortcomings of his own design. Taking the 018 as their base, Postlethwaite and Tyrrell Chief Designer Jean-Claude Migeot decided to try to improve the aerodynamic efficiency of the chassis. One area in particular attracted their attention: the underbody airflow. While true ground effect designs had been outlawed during the 1980s, the contemporary practice of coupling a flat, chassis undertray with a large rear diffuser meant that many cars still produced a significant proportion of their downforce through the generation of a low-pressure air mass underneath the car. What Postlethwaite and Migeot realised was that the efficiency of this low-pressure generating system was being seriously compromised by the low nose position at the front end of the car. These low nose cones effectively diverted air sideways and upwards around the cars' upper bodywork, and reduced the volume of air passing underneath the car. However, the generation of low pressures relies on increasing the speed of the air passing underneath the flat bottom of the car, in relation to that passing over and around it. In simple terms, the more air that can be drawn underneath a car, the faster that air will have to be moving, and the faster the air is moving, the lower the pressure. By raising the nose cone of the car, Postlethwaite and his team increased the volume of air that was able to pass underneath the car. Conversely, the efficiency of the front wing aerofoils are increased the closer they are to the ground. These conflicting requirements led to the design of the 019's distinctive inverted-V, anhedral front profile.

The car used the 3.5 litre Cosworth DFR V8 engine which developed approximately 620 bhp (462 kW; 629 PS). The engines were tuned for Tyrrell by Hart Racing Engines.

In practice the car did not have the same impact in terms of results as it had in technological advancement. Although Alesi qualified a strong seventh and took a point for a sixth-place finish at its first race in San Marino, and then both qualified and finished in second place in Monaco, the remainder of the season resulted in only two points finishes. Nevertheless, as other teams experimented with the principle it rapidly became the norm for Formula One cars to sport a high nose cone. The last truly successful low nose design was the Williams FW16, built only four years after the Tyrrell's unveiling. After this car, all Formula One Championship winning chassis have followed Tyrrell's lead.

The Tyrrell 019 was replaced at the end of the 1990 season by the Tyrrell 020, a further evolution of Postlethwaite's high nose principle.

The car won the Autosport Racing Car of the Year Award for 1990.

The car marked the significant point in the evolution of Formula One design in having an elevated nose cone. This was the first time that such an idea had been tried in Formula One racing, and set the template for aerodynamic design ever since. This type of nose cone was gradually adopted by other teams and became the de rigueur design by 1996.

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^† Seven points scored with the Tyrrell 018.

• Frankel, A. & Brundle, M. 2000. 50 Years of Formula One. Motor Sport. LXXVI/7 (July 2000), 24-37
• "Nose cone". F1Technical.net. Retrieved 2007-08-04.
• "Tyrrell 019". Ultimatecarpage.com. Retrieved 2007-08-04.