The Tyrrell team finished fifth in the constructors' standings of the 1989 F1 championship, the best result since 1979, yet the English team perhaps expected more. The 019 powered by Ford Cosworth DFR was an excellent single-seater, designed by Harvey Postlethwaite. The carbon monocoque was particularly refined, as were the aerodynamics. The team was penalized by the lack of adequate sponsorship. Newcomer Alesi was fourth in France after taking second place, while the best result of the season was Alboreto's third place in Mexico. Nakajima, Herbert and Palmer also drove for Tyrrell in 1989.
The Danhausen company of Aachen, Germany, began producing its own series of handcrafted 1:43 models under the names Metal 43, Plumbies, SD Models and Minichamps in 1974. Between 1976 and 1990, AMR produced over 70 different Minichamps models for Danhausen. The mass production of highly detailed die-cast model cars, marketed under the name Minichamps, began in China in 1990 and marked a real revolution in the field of model making, with high quality products at extremely competitive prices. Minichamps models are developed in Germany, but production and assembly takes place in the Far East. In less than ten years Minichamps practically became the reference in the diecast sector. In 2004 the first resin miniatures were introduced. Over the years other scales have been developed significantly, including 1:18. The Maxichamps range, which includes affordable reissues of older Minichamps items, was introduced in 2016.