[1] In the team's other entry, de Cesaris qualified in 15th place for the season opening Brazilian Grand Prix and was classified 13th even though engine problems meant he failed to finish.

[1] Caffi in the meantime failed to pre-qualify in Brazil and he would repeat this feat later in the year at the British Grand Prix.

These proved to be anomalies as he made the field for the other 14 races of the season, usually ahead of De Cesaris, and in some cases well inside the top half of the grid.

[1] He qualified sixth in Phoenix and ran as high as second at one point before retiring after suffering suspension damage when he was pushed into a concrete barrier while attempting to lap his own team mate Andrea de Cesaris.

[4] Later in the year, in Hungary, Caffi did even better by placing his F189 third on the grid behind only the McLaren-Honda of defending World Champion Ayrton Senna and the pole winning Williams-Renault of Riccardo Patrese, both using more powerful V10 engines (immediately behind Caffi on the grid were Patrese's team mate Thierry Boutsen and Senna's team mate, 1989 World Champion Alain Prost).