The F189 was a direct development of the Dallara F188, refined by the same design team of Giampaolo Dallara and Mario Tollentino. The car was powered by Cosworth DFR V8 engines prepared by Swiss engine specialist Heini Mader, putting the car at an inherent disadvantage against rivals running more powerful V10 and V12 units. Despite this, the F189's chassis was considered competitive enough to allow its drivers to regularly qualify in the upper reaches of the midfield.
BMS Scuderia Italia expanded to a full two-car effort in 1989. Alex Caffi returned for his second season with the team following a pointless 1988 campaign, while the highly experienced Andrea de Cesaris was recruited as his teammate. Because Caffi had not scored in 1988, he was required to participate in pre-qualifying for the first half of the season — an additional hurdle that forced him to prove himself each race weekend before even entering official qualifying. Pirelli's strong qualifying tyres generally made this a manageable obstacle.
De Cesaris opened his season with a 13th-place classification at the Brazilian Grand Prix despite failing to finish due to engine problems. His defining moment of the year came in Canada, where a rain-affected race rewarded his experience and racecraft. Starting ninth on the grid — his best qualifying position of the year — de Cesaris threaded his way through the attrition and crossed the line third, securing the first podium finish in Scuderia Italia's Formula One history and what would prove to be the last podium of de Cesaris' own career.
Caffi delivered the season's other points-scoring performances. At Monaco he qualified and raced to fourth, while in Canada he added a sixth to give him four championship points overall by the season's end. A particularly eye-catching qualifying lap at the Hungarian Grand Prix placed Caffi's F189 third on the grid, behind only Ayrton Senna's McLaren-Honda and Riccardo Patrese's Williams-Renault — both equipped with more powerful V10 engines. The grid slot ahead of Patrese's teammate Thierry Boutsen and Senna's teammate Alain Prost, who would go on to win the Drivers' Championship that year, underscored just how competitive the chassis could be in the right conditions. Caffi's race, however, did not match the qualifying performance and he finished seventh.
At Phoenix, Caffi qualified sixth and ran as high as second before contact with a concrete barrier caused suspension damage. He had been attempting to lap de Cesaris when the incident occurred. Despite the retirements and near-misses, Caffi pre-qualified or qualified for 14 of the 16 rounds, with failures only in Brazil and at the British Grand Prix. His four points were enough to lift him out of pre-qualifying obligation for the second half of the season.
Both Caffi and de Cesaris were classified 13th in the Drivers' Championship at season's end, each on four points. BMS Scuderia Italia's eight-point tally placed the team eighth in the Constructors' Championship. For a privately-funded operation running a normally-aspirated V8 against works teams with V10 and V12 machinery, the result represented a creditable performance and established the team as a legitimate competitor in the sport.
The F189 marked the beginning of Scuderia Italia's most productive period in Formula One. The relationship between the team and the Dallara name would continue, with Giampaolo Dallara providing the chassis that carried the team through the early 1990s. De Cesaris's podium in Canada remained one of the landmark moments in Scuderia Italia's history, demonstrating that a well-developed chassis could overcome engine parity deficits when race conditions aligned.