The 1989 International Formula 3000 Championship was contested over 10 rounds. Jean Alesi won the title, while also competing in the last half of the Formula One season for Tyrrell.
The season began with Thomas Danielsson winning at Silverstone, after returning from the eye problems that had caused him to miss most of the previous year.
Martin Donnelly then won on the road at Vallelunga, but was disqualified. His Eddie Jordan Racing team had modified the Reynard's nosecone, but it had not been subjected to the mandatory crash test. [1]
At the Pau Grand Prix, Éric Bernard led the two EJR cars of Jean Alesi and Donnelly after an aborted first start. However, Bernard was caught behind an accident involving Paul Belmondo and stalled his car, allowing Alesi to go through and take the victory. Bernard stormed back through the field, but collided with Mark Blundell while battling for second place. Bernard would win the next race at Jerez. Andrea Chiesa then won a close race on the dusty Enna circuit.
Meanwhile, three F3000 regulars—Alesi, Bernard and Donnelly—all made their Formula One debuts at the French Grand Prix in July. Alesi was particularly impressive for Tyrrell, finishing fourth, and he would continue to drive for them when the F3000 schedule allowed.
The EJR team won the next three races, allowing Alesi to take a commanding lead in the championship. His closest rival Érik Comas won at Le Mans but Alesi's single point, along with the tiebreaker of most wins, meant that he clinched the title. Alesi then skipped the last round in at Dijon-Prenois to race in the Japanese Grand Prix, allowing Comas to tie his point total with the win.
| Round | Circuit | Date | Laps | Distance | Time | Speed | Pole Position | Fastest Lap | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Silverstone Circuit | 9 April | 41 | 4.778=196.308 km | 0'55:31.92 | 211.73 km/h |  Philippe Favre | Philippe Favre 1 |  Thomas Danielsson |
| 2 |  ACI Vallelunga Circuit | 30 April | 64 | 3.2=204.80 km | 1'13:08.797 | 167.991 km/h | Martin Donnelly | Marco Apicella | Fabrizio Giovanardi 2 |
| 3 |  Pau Grand Prix | 15 May | 72 | 2.76=198.72 km | 1'28:51.90 | 134.173 km/h | Marco Apicella | Éric Bernard Marco Apicella | Jean Alesi |
| 4 |  Circuito de Jerez | 4 June | 48 | 4.218=202.464 km | 1'18:28.48 | 154.80 km/h | Éric Bernard | Éric Bernard | Éric Bernard |
| 5 | Autodromo di Pergusa | 23 July | 39 | 4.95=193.050 km | 0'58:54.5 | 196.626 km/h | Jean Alesi | Martin Donnelly | Andrea Chiesa |
| 6 | Brands Hatch | 20 August | 48 | 4.19=201.12 km | 1'02:03.76 | 194.15 km/h | Érik Comas | Éric Bernard | Martin Donnelly |
| 7 | Birmingham | 28 August | 51 | 3.975=202.725 km | 1'11:48.98 | 169.36 km/h | Jean Alesi | Jean Alesi | Jean Alesi |
| 8 |  Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps | 16 September | 28 | 6.94=194.30 km | 1'02:40.93 | 186.005 km/h | Érik Comas | Érik Comas | Jean Alesi |
| 9 | Le Mans Bugatti Circuit | 24 September | 46 | 4.267=196.0 km | 1'12:31.43 | 168.59 km/h | Éric Bernard | Érik Comas | Érik Comas |
| 10 | Dijon-Prenois | 22 October | 54 | 3.8=205.2 km | 1'05:07.20 | 189.066 km/h | Éric Bernard | Érik Comas | Érik Comas |
| Source: [5] | |||||||||
Notes
1 JJ Lehto set the fastest race lap, but was disqualified after the race for having an illegal rev-limiter. [6]
2 Martin Donnelly won on the road, but was disqualified for using a nosecone that had not been subjected to the mandatory crash test.
For every race points were awarded: 9 points to the winner, 6 for runner-up, 4 for third place, 3 for fourth place, 2 for fifth place and 1 for sixth place. [7]
Jean Alesi won the championship by virtue of having three wins to Érik Comas' two. He skipped the last race of the season with the championship already won.
| Pos | Driver | SIL | VLL | PAU | JER | PER | BRH | BIR | SPA | BUG | DIJ | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jean Alesi | 4 | Ret | 1 | 5 | Ret | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 39 | ||
| 2 | Érik Comas | 5 | 4 | DNQ | 2 | Ret | 3 | Ret | 2 | 1 | 1 | 39 | |
| 3 | Éric Bernard | Ret | Ret | Ret | 1 | Ret | 4 | 4 | Ret | 3 | 2 | 25 | |
| 4 | Marco Apicella | 8 | Ret | 2 | 3 | 4 | Ret | 2 | 3 | Ret | Ret | 23 | |
| 5 | Eric van de Poele | 6 | 3 | Ret | 4 | Ret | Ret | 14 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 19 | |
| 6 | Andrea Chiesa | 11 | 2 | Ret | Ret | 1 | Ret | 13 | 17 | Ret | Ret | 15 | |
| 7 | Thomas Danielsson | 1 | Ret | 3 | 12 | Ret | Ret | Ret | 6 | 13 | 11 | 14 | |
| 8 | Martin Donnelly | Ret | DSQ | Ret | Ret | Ret | 1 | 3 | Ret | 7 | 17 | 13 | |
| 9 | Eddie Irvine | DNS | Ret | Ret | Ret | 3 | Ret | 6 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 11 | |
| 10 | Fabrizio Giovanardi | DNQ | 1 | Ret | 14 | Ret | DNQ | DNS | 13 | DNQ | 12 | 9 | |
| 11 | Mark Blundell | 3 | Ret | 6 | DNQ | Ret | Ret | 5 | DNS | Ret | 6 | 8 | |
| 12 | Claudio Langes | 12 | Ret | Ret | 7 | 2 | 6 | 9 | 15 | 9 | 7 | 7 | |
| 13 | Philippe Favre | 2 | Ret | 7 | Ret | Ret | 7 | Ret | 12 | 6 | |||
| 14 |  J.J. Lehto | DSQ | Ret | 4 | 6 | Ret | Ret | Ret | 5 | Ret | 6 | ||
| 15 | Andrew Gilbert-Scott | 3 | 4 | ||||||||||
| 16 | Alain Ferté | 6 | 5 | Ret | Ret | 13 | 3 | ||||||
| 17 |  Stéphane Proulx | Ret | 9 | Ret | 10 | Ret | Ret | Ret | 8 | 5 | Ret | 2 | |
| 18 |  Gary Brabham | Ret | 8 | 13 | 5 | DNQ | 11 | Ret | Ret | 2 | |||
| 19 | Emanuele Naspetti | 16 | 5 | DNQ | Ret | Ret | 9 | Ret | Ret | 10 | 10 | 2 | |
| 20 | Gary Evans | Ret | 11 | Ret | 17 | 5 | Ret | Ret | 16 | DNQ | DNQ | 2 | |
| 21 | Phil Andrews | 7 | Ret | DNQ | 11 | Ret | 10 | 7 | Ret | 12 | Ret | 0 | |
| 22 | Perry McCarthy | DNQ | 7 | 15 | 0 | ||||||||
| 23 | Didier Artzet | Ret | 7 | Ret | 0 | ||||||||
| 24 | Philippe Gache | Ret | 8 | DNQ | Ret | 8 | Ret | 8 | Ret | 0 | |||
| 25 | Ross Hockenhull | Ret | 8 | 11 | 0 | ||||||||
| 26 | Allan McNish | 8 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 27 | Jacques Goudchaux | 10 | 10 | DNQ | 9 | DNQ | DNQ | Ret | DNQ | 14 | 0 | ||
| 28 | Jean-Denis Délétraz | 14 | Ret | Ret | 15 | Ret | Ret | 12 | DNQ | Ret | 9 | 0 | |
| 29 | Mauro Martini | 9 | DNQ | 16 | Ret | 0 | |||||||
| 30 | Paul Belmondo | 13 | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | 12 | Ret | 10 | Ret | 18 | 0 | |
| 31 | Franco Scapini | DNQ | Ret | DNQ | 10 | DNQ | DNQ | 0 | |||||
| 32 | Éric Chéli | DNS | 12 | Ret | DNQ | Ret | DNQ | DNS | Ret | 11 | DNQ | 0 | |
| 33 |  Pedro Chaves | 15 | DNQ | DNQ | Ret | Ret | 11 | Ret | DNQ | 17 | DNQ | 0 | |
| 34 | Damon Hill | Ret | Ret | DNS | 14 | 16 | 15 | 0 | |||||
| 35 | David Velay | 14 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 36 | Alessandro Zanardi | 16 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 37 |  Ukyo Katayama | DNQ | Ret | DNQ | 18 | 0 | |||||||
| 38 | Enrico Bertaggia | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | 19 | 0 | |||||||
 Marco Greco | Ret | Ret | Ret | ||||||||||
| Massimo Monti | DNQ | DNQ | Ret | ||||||||||
| Domenico Gitto | DNQ | Ret | |||||||||||
| Michel Ferté | Ret | ||||||||||||
 Cor Euser | Ret | ||||||||||||
| Rickard Rydell | Ret | ||||||||||||
| Dominique Delestre | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | ||||||||||
| Sources: [8] [9] [10] | |||||||||||||
| first column of every race | 10 | = grid position |
| second column of every race | 10 | = race result |
R = retired, NS = did not start, NQ = did not qualify, DIS = disqualified (placing before disqualification displayed alongside in parentheses)
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