Competition car Unregistered

Chassis n° 02

- The first F1 car driven by Jean Alesi! 4th at Le Castellet in his first GP!

- Designed by Harvey Postlethwaite and Jean-Claude Migeot

- Tyrrell, one of the most famous private teams in the history of F1

- Driven at the start of the season by Michele Alboreto, 3rd at the Mexican GP

Ken Tyrrell was annoyed: he had just agreed a desperately needed sponsorship deal with the cigarette company Camel, but his driver Michele Alboreto refused to give up his personal contract with Marlboro. Just before the French Grand Prix, at the Circuit Paul Ricard at the start of July, the Italian driver therefore left the British team. To fill this unforeseen gap as quickly as possible, Tyrrell turned to the pool of talent in Formula 3000 and chose the driver then dominating the category: Jean Alesi. But Alesi had never driven an F1 car and the team was somewhat preoccupied. Before the start of testing, Jean-Claude Migeot, one of the designers of the Tyrrell 018 (and French, which made communicating easier) said to him: “Tomorrow, you may qualify, but if you don’t manage to, don’t worry, it’ll come ...” He needn’t have worried: Alesi posted the 16th-fastest time, putting him in the middle of the grid. A position which enabled him to narrowly avoid the spectacular pile-up at the start of the Grand Prix, before the first corner, which resulted in a restart. Alesi handled this perfectly and was in the first ten drivers at the start of the race. Halfway through, he was ... second! Admittedly, he still needed to stop in the pits for a change of tyres, but it was an amazing achievement for his very first Grand Prix! “I felt so good in the car”, he said afterwards, “that I didn’t want to stop.” He did, however, come into the pits and lost a few places before going back on track, but he crossed the finish line in fourth place, behind Prost (McLaren-Honda), Mansell (Ferrari) and Patrese (Williams-Renault). An unexpected result which made the English press exclaim: "A star is born !"

 

The car that pulled off this legendary feat is the one offered for sale today, the Tyrrell 018 chassis no. 2. Harvey Postlethwaite and Jean-Claude Migeot had joined Tyrrell from Ferrari and were responsible for its design; they opted for simplicity as at the time the team lacked the resources to develop a more sophisticated car. They nonetheless broke new ground with a front suspension design using a single shock absorber/spring unit mounted in a very streamlined nose cone, which contributed to the car’s sleek lines. The engine was a 3.5-litre Ford-Cosworth DFR V8, a tried and tested unit well regarded by Tyrrell, who had never liked the turbo engines of the 1980s. The team competed with two drivers, Michele Alboreto and Jonathan Palmer, who shared the first two Tyrrell 018s: chassis no. 01 for the British driver and no. 2 for the Italian.

The car made its debut at San Marino: Alboreto failed to qualify, but Palmer finished sixth. With chassis no. 2, the Italian driver took his revenge at Monaco, where he finished fifth, before an excellent third place in the Mexican Grand Prix. He complained about the front suspension, which he found made the car “overly responsive”, but Postlethwaite was able to set it up more precisely. Unfortunately for him, it was just when he had found the right settings that Alboreto left the team, giving up his seat to Jean Alesi. The car perfectly suited the French driver: “It fitted me like a glove”, he told Autosport in April 2025. “The front suspension was very positive and it was very precise in the corners. If you had enough confidence to turn into the corner really hard, you could go very fast. It was my style of driving.”

After the French Grand Prix, the young driver from Avignon continued to forge ahead, taking tenth place in Germany and then ninth in Hungary, but he was unable to take part in the Belgian and Portuguese Grands Prix which were held at the same time as the races in the F3000 championship, which he had promised Eddie Jordan he would complete. Alesi was replaced for the occasion by Johnny Herbert, whose performance was unexceptional, whereas Alesi had a brilliant finish to the season with Tyrrell, with fifth place at Monza, followed by fourth place in Spain, although he used chassis no. 02 in testing there, but took part in the actual race with chassis no. 05.

Thanks to these unexpected results, Alesi ranked ninth in the World Championship, even though he had only competed in six of the 16 Grands Prix that season. Tyrrell meanwhile finished fifth in the Constructors’ Championship, its best result since 1979. The Tyrrell 018 chassis no. 02 naturally played a big part in this, and it saw service again the following year, when it was used by the Japanese driver Satoru Nakajima for the first two races of the season, while awaiting the arrival of the Tyrrell 019.

 

After being owned by several collectors of Formula 1 cars, the Tyrrell was kept without being driven and had not been started up since the end of its racing career, when it was acquired by an English enthusiast. A prominent gentleman driver, he sent the car to Front Row Racing to be restored regardless of cost. The 3.5-litre Cosworth DFR with its Motec electronic management system was replaced by a new engine, while the gearbox, electrical system, suspension and fuel tank were all rebuilt. Since then, the car has taken part in several historic events, including the Festival of Speed at Goodwood and, in April 2025, the Grand Prix de France Historique at the Circuit Paul Ricard. On this occasion, Jean Alesi (the current President of the Circuit) got behind the wheel again for a particularly moving demonstration.

Looked after today by a particularly well regarded English specialist, the car will be sold with the equipment needed to run it and a set of useful spare parts. It comes with a certificate of authenticity from Tyrrell and various historical documents.

A racing car designed by the best engineers in one of the most renowned teams in the history of Formula 1, it witnessed the debut of one of the most popular French drivers: it takes many well-deserved superlatives to describe it!

“This sport would be a thousand times better”, Jackie Stewart declared at the end of his book on Tyrrell, “if there were more Ken Tyrrells.” This exceptional car is a reflection of the man known as ‘Uncle Ken’: simple, genuine, direct and effective. It will naturally be honoured at any historic event open to F1 cars from this period.

 

===================

Results in competition

 

1989 season

- 7 May, Monaco GP, Michele Alboreto: qualifying 12th, race 5th

- 28 May, Mexican GP, Michele Alboreto: qualifying 7th, race 3rd

- 4 June, United States GP, Phoenix, Michele Alboreto: qualifying 9th, race DNF (gearbox)

- 18 June, Canadian GP, Montreal, Michele Alboreto: qualifying 20th, race DNF (electrical system)

- 9 July, French GP, Le Castellet, Jean Alesi: qualifying 16th, race 4th

- 16 July, British GP, Silverstone, Jean Alesi: qualifying 22nd, race DNF (ran off the track)

- 30 July, German GP, Hockenheim, Jean Alesi: qualifying 10th, race 10th

- 13 August, Hungarian GP, Hungaroring, Jean Alesi: qualifying 11th, race 9th

- 27 August, Belgian GP, Spa-Francorchamps, Johnny Herbert: qualifying 16th, race DNF (ran off the track)

- 10 September, Italian GP, Monza, Jean Alesi: qualifying 10th, race 5th

- 24 September, Portuguese GP, Estoril, Johnny Herbert, failed to qualify

- 1 October, Spanish GP, Jerez, Jean Alesi: qualifying 9th, race 4th (with chassis no. 05, following a spin during warm-up)

 

1990 season

- 11 March, United States GP, Phoenix, Satoru Nakajima: qualifying 11th, race 6th

- 25 March, Brazilian GP, Interlagos, Satoru Nakajima: qualifying 19th, race 8th