1989 British Formula Three Championship

The 1989 British Formula Three season was the 39th season of the British Formula Three Championship, starting at Thruxton on 27 March and concluding there on 15 October after 16 races.

The title battle was largely fought between two sportscar racing stars of the future - West Surrey Racing's Allan McNish and Bowman Racing's David Brabham, both driving Ralt chassis. The former was initially declared champion at the end of the season as a result of Brabham being disqualified from his second-place finish the ninth round of the season at Silverstone and being penalised a further 18 points due to an irregularity with his Volkswagen engine. However, Brabham's points was reinstated following a court hearing in early 1990, giving him the title by a margin of 10 points over McNish.^[1]

Other notable drivers in the field included future BTCC champions Rickard Rydell (who would contest the championship again two years later) and Alain Menu, and future Formula One stars Mika Häkkinen and Mika Salo, who would go on to be the title protagonists in 1990.

1989 proved a high-water mark for the series in terms of entry numbers, which regularly exceeded 40 cars. The result of this was the creation of qualifying heats at certain rounds in order to slim the field down prior to the main race. It was also the first year for the Neil Brown Engineering-tuned Mugen-Honda engine, used by McNish among others, which would power all but one British F3 champion from 1990 to 2006. Class B was won by Fernando Plata in a year-old VW-powered Ralt.

Race calendar and results[]

Round	Circuit	Date	Pole Position	Fastest Lap	Winning Driver	Winning Team	Class B Winner
1	Thruxton	27 March	Rickard Rydell	Alain Menu	Rickard Rydell	Eddie Jordan Racing	Eddie Kimbell
2	Silverstone	9 April	David Brabham	Alain Menu	David Brabham	Bowman Racing	Craig Simmiss
31	Brands Hatch	23 April	Mika Häkkinen	Mika Häkkinen	David Brabham	Bowman Racing	Ken Bowes
4	Silverstone	1 May	Steve Robertson	Derek Higgins	Derek Higgins	West Surrey Racing	Fernando Plata
5	Brands Hatch	21 May	Mika Häkkinen	Otto Rensing	David Brabham	Bowman Racing	Fernando Plata
6	Thruxton	29 May	Derek Higgins	Derek Higgins	Allan McNish	West Surrey Racing	Fernando Plata
7	Silverstone	4 June	Allan McNish	Rickard Rydell	Allan McNish	West Surrey Racing	Fernando Plata
8	Donington Park	2 July	Rickard Rydell	Allan McNish	Allan McNish	West Surrey Racing	Warwick Rooklyn
9	Silverstone	15 July	David Brabham	Mika Häkkinen	Allan McNish	West Surrey Racing	Fernando Plata
101	Snetterton	6 August	David Brabham	David Brabham	Paul Stewart	Paul Stewart Racing	Fernando Plata
11	Oulton Park	13 August	David Brabham	David Brabham	David Brabham	Bowman Racing	Fernando Plata
12	Silverstone	28 August	David Brabham	Derek Higgins	David Brabham	Bowman Racing	Warwick Rooklyn
13	Brands Hatch	3 September	Philippe Adams	Allan McNish	Philippe Adams	Bowman Racing	Warwick Rooklyn
14	Donington Park	17 September	David Brabham	Steve Robertson	Steve Robertson	Bowman Racing	Scott Stringfellow
15	Silverstone	7 October	Allan McNish	Allan McNish	David Brabham	Bowman Racing	Warwick Rooklyn
16	Thruxton	15 October	Allan McNish	Derek Higgins	Allan McNish	West Surrey Racing	Warwick Rooklyn

^1 These races were shortened due to accidents.

Championship Standings[]

Class A[]

Pos.	Driver	Team	Points
1	David Brabham	Bowman Racing	80
2	Allan McNish	West Surrey Racing	70
3	Derek Higgins	West Surrey Racing	46
4	Rickard Rydell	Eddie Jordan Racing	35
5	Steve Robertson	Bowman Racing	27
6	Philippe Adams	Bowman Racing	23
7	Mika Häkkinen	Dragon Motorsport	18
8	Alain Menu	Racefax Motorsport	16
9	Otto Rensing	Paul Stewart Racing	15
10	Paul Stewart	Paul Stewart Racing	13
11	John Alcorn	Becsport	12
12	Gary Ayles	Jack Brabham Racing	11
13	Jason Elliott	Paul Stewart Racing Swallow Racing	11
14	Mika Salo	Alan Docking Racing	10
15	Niclas Schönström	Swallow Racing	9
16	Gary Ward	RGS Motorsport	6
17	Julian Westwood	Racefax Motorsport	5
18	Paul Warwick	Intersport	3
19	John Estupiñan	Bowman Racing	3
20	António Simões	Dawson Auto Developments	3

Class B[]

Pos.	Driver	Team	Points
1	Fernando Plata	Bowman Racing	89
2	Warwick Rooklyn	Bowman Racing	68
3	Scott Stringfellow	Jim Lee Racing	68
4	Eddie Kimbell	Peter Lea Racing	32
5	Craig Simmiss	CS Engineering	27
6	Stephen Hepworth	Driver	25
7	Ken Bowes	Hi-Tech Motor Sports Development	24
8	Chad Wentzel	Hubbard Racing	15
9	Lindoro da Silva	START Racing Hi-Tech Motor Sports Development	10
10	Dominic Chappell	Long Ridge Racing	10
11	Charles Rickett	Jim Lee Racing	10
12	Darren Shaw	MacDonald Race Engineering	7
13	Guido Basile	Terropol Promotions	6
14	Paul Smith	Tech-Speed Motorsport	5
15	Gary Thomas	CS Engineering	4
16	Rob Mears	Cram Motorsport	4
17	Chris Needham	Hi-Tech Motor Sport Developments	3
18	Juan Serda	Roger Cowman Racing	2
19	Alan Tulloch	Peter Lea Racing	1
20	Chris Perkins	Royal Air Force MSA	1

References[]