The Life F190 was centered around a W12 engine configuration developed by engineer Franco Rocchi. Rocchi, a former Scuderia Ferrari employee, began work on the design in 1980, believing a W-configuration would be shorter and more flexible than a standard V12. By 1989, Rocchi claimed the engine weighed 140 kg.
Italian businessman Ernesto Vita purchased the rights to the engine, hoping to sell the design to other Formula One teams during the transition to naturally aspirated engines. When no major manufacturers or teams showed interest, Vita established Life Racing Engines to campaign the engine himself.
Rather than constructing a bespoke chassis, Vita purchased a car from the First Racing team. This chassis, the FIRST F189, had been designed by Richard Divila and was based on the March 88B Formula 3000 vehicle. The F189 had originally been intended for the 1989 season with driver Gabriele Tarquini, but it failed mandatory crash tests and was deemed unsafe. Divila described the original construction as a "time bomb" and took legal action to dissociate his name from the project, suggesting the car was only fit for use as a flowerpot.
To prepare the car for the 1990 season, Gianni Marelli modified the roll bar to pass crash tests and integrated the Rocchi W12 engine. The resulting F190 featured a narrow nose, additional air intakes near the driver's arms, and very low side sections.
The team's first driver was Gary Brabham, the British Formula 3000 champion. Testing was extremely limited; a scheduled January 28 test at Misano was cancelled, and the car did not run until February 18 at Vallelunga. A subsequent test at Monza on February 25 consisted of only a few laps. These sessions revealed the car was unreliable, handled poorly, and weighed 25 to 30 kg more than rival machinery.
The F190 made its competitive debut at the 1990 United States Grand Prix in Phoenix. Brabham's best time of 2:07.147 was nearly 30 seconds slower than the next closest competitor and 40 seconds off the pole position time. The car's top speed was recorded at 185.57 km/h, while the fastest cars reached 271.44 km/h.
The 1990 season was characterized by persistent mechanical failure and a lack of resources. At the Brazilian Grand Prix, the car traveled only 400 meters before the engine failed because mechanics, who were striking over unpaid wages, had not filled it with oil. Following this incident, Gary Brabham left the team, citing a lack of professionalism.
Bruno Giacomelli, who had not raced in Formula One since 1983, replaced Brabham starting at the San Marino Grand Prix. During pre-qualifying at Imola, Giacomelli could only select third gear and recorded a lap time of 7:16.212, the slowest lap in Formula One history at that time (excluding the 10-minute laps of the 1957 Pescara Grand Prix).
Throughout the mid-season, the F190 remained uncompetitive:
Monaco: Giacomelli was 15 seconds slower than the 26th-placed driver and slower than the Formula Three support category.
Canada: The car's top speed of 216 km/h was 81 km/h slower than the fastest car on track.
Mexico: Giacomelli's time was 4:04.475, nearly 200 km/h slower than the top speed of Satoru Nakajima.
Great Britain: The car was 14 seconds slower than the next-placed driver, though it did manage to outpace the contemporary Formula Three cars at Silverstone by three seconds.
By the Portuguese Grand Prix, the team abandoned the W12 engine in favor of a Judd V8. This required 10 days of rebuilding, which reduced the car's weight by 80 kg. However, the new engine cover did not fit the Judd unit, and Giacomelli failed to leave the pit lane due to an electrical failure.
At the Spanish Grand Prix, the team arrived without a jack, forcing mechanics to lift the car by its suspension arms. Giacomelli's lap time was 1:42.699, approximately 17 seconds slower than the next driver, Claudio Langes.
Life withdrew from the final two races of the 1990 season in Japan and Australia due to the high costs of overseas travel, incurring a $200,000 fine from the FIA. Although Ernesto Vita initially announced plans to continue in 1991 with an improved W12 engine and increased personnel, the team folded before the new season began.
The Life F190 is statistically one of the least successful cars in Formula One history. Its primary engine, the Life F35 W12, produced between 360 and 470 bhp, while contemporary Honda V10 engines produced approximately 700 bhp. In several sessions, the car was 15 to 20 seconds slower than the second-to-last competitor in pre-qualifying. At the Italian Grand Prix, the F190's times were slower than those recorded by Formula One cars from the 1969 season.
The sole F190 chassis was eventually sold to a private collector. In 2009, the car was restored to its original W12 configuration by Lorenzo Prandina. It was demonstrated at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, where it was driven by Derek Bell.