The 640 was the first Ferrari Formula One car powered by a V12 engine since the 312 F1-69 in 1969. The car was designed by John Barnard, and it was the first Ferrari he was responsible for designing. It featured a sharp nose with a narrow monocoque and bulging side-pods designed to house the radiators with maximum aerodynamic efficiency. It originally had two small air intakes on either side of the driver, but from the fourth race of the season in Mexico, a more conventional large air intake above and behind the driver was introduced and kept for the remainder of the season.
Barnard, who joined Ferrari from McLaren at the end of the 1986 season, began designing the car in 1987 for intended use in 1988. However, continual problems with the car's electrohydraulic-actuated semi-automatic gearbox forced the team to use the turbocharged F1/87/88C in 1988. The car's debut was pushed back to 1989, the first year of FISA's 3.5-litre atmospheric formula where turbos were banned. The 640 was a development of the unraced 639 prototype tested during 1988.
The 640 was powered by Ferrari's Tipo 035/5, a 3.5-liter V12 engine which produced up to 660 bhp (492 kW; 669 PS) by the season end. This was roughly the same amount of power as the Tipo 033A V6 turbo it replaced, though without the turbo's fuel consumption worries. This power output was lower than the V10 Honda used by McLaren, which was rated at 675 bhp (503 kW; 684 PS).
The transmission attracted significant attention as it contained the first true sequential-style paddle-shift gearbox in Formula 1. The system used hydraulics to automate the gearchange and operation of the clutch, minimizing time lost during shifts and providing aerodynamic benefits by taking up less space than a traditional manual linkage. While the experimental system was unreliable in the first half of the season, such gearboxes became the norm by the mid-1990s. Development was conducted at the Fiorano test track by Roberto Moreno. Reliability improved after electrical experts from sponsor Magneti Marelli helped fix the power supply from the battery to the gearbox.
Barnard had sought to eliminate manual transmissions since designing the Chaparral 2K for the 1980 Indianapolis 500. From an aerodynamic perspective, a manual stick shift required the monocoque to be wider than desirable; the semi-automatic system with paddle-shifters allowed for the 640's distinctive sharp nose.
The car proved fast, and Mansell took it to victory in its début race in Brazil. The potential of the new car was noted by the drivers; the corpus reports that on the eve of the Brazilian race, Mansell declared that if "the car had even half the horsepower it sounds like it has, we'll win every race this year," while Berger described the semi-automatic transmission system as "super" despite its unreliability. However, the car did not record another finish until the French Grand Prix, and there were no races in which both drivers finished. When the car did finish, it placed no lower than third. Mansell took second in France and Great Britain, third in Germany, a second win in Hungary after passing Ayrton Senna, and third at Spa. Berger finished second at Monza, won in Portugal, and finished second in Spain.
The carbon fibre monocoque proved strong during Berger's high-speed crash at Imola. Berger later revealed the crash was caused by a broken front wing. Though briefly knocked unconscious, he was aware of the danger of fire due to the full fuel load. His injuries kept him out of the Monaco Grand Prix, but he returned for the Mexican Grand Prix, aided by the semi-automatic gearbox which allowed him to shift without taking his hands off the steering wheel.
At the end of the season, Mansell was fourth in the Drivers' Championship with 38 points, while Berger was seventh with 21. Berger only finished three races during the season, retiring from 10 of the first 11 races he entered. Ferrari battled Williams for second in the Constructors' Championship but ultimately settled for third with 59 points after both Ferrari drivers failed to finish the final two races in Japan and Australia.
For the 1990 season, the 640 was replaced with the 641.
(key) (results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)
Derived Figures:
Power conversions (492 kW; 669 PS) and (503 kW; 684 PS) are calculated based on the bhp figures provided in the corpus (1 bhp ≈ 0.7457 kW; 1 bhp ≈ 1.0139 PS).
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