The Alfa Romeo 890T turbo engine that powered the FA1L had been introduced to Formula One in 1983. Osella had been using Alfa turbo power since 1984. Fiat, the parent company of Alfa Romeo, withdrew its support for the engine, though they allowed Osella to keep using it in 1988 so long as the Alfa Romeo name was not used. This resulted in the engine being renamed the Osella 890T (or Osella V8) for the season.
The car was heavy (560 kg (1,230 lb)) and produced excessive drag which hurt its top speed while not producing enough downforce. The aerodynamic origins of the FA1L, like all Osella's since 1984, were in the Alfa Romeo 183T used by the factory Alfa team in 1983. Also, the V8 turbo engine suffered from both high fuel consumption and a lack of throttle response (turbo lag). The fuel consumption problem was one the engine had been plagued with since re-fuelling was banned in 1984. The FA1L was often hard pressed to qualify or race as fast as the 'atmo' V8 cars.
After using 1987's FA1I for the opening round in Brazil, the FA1L first appeared in Round 2 at the San Marino Grand Prix, but failed to pass scrutineering after it was found the team had modified the chassis, changing the fuel zone shape and then with the driver's feet illegally in front of the front axle line. New FISA safety regulations meant that all cars would be required to have the driver's feet behind the front axle line. The upshot was that the FA1L was disqualified on the basis that the changed mounting points plus the driver's feet position constituted an entirely new chassis which had not been passed in FIA crash testing.
The car was passed legal for its second race, the next round in Monaco where it had its most successful outing. There Larini qualified 25th and managed to stay out of trouble to finish ninth, three laps down on race winner Alain Prost.
From there the rot set in for the team. The car's shortcomings were exposed at the next race in Mexico where Larini failed to qualify. The FA1L was the only turbo car not to qualify in Mexico.
Larini only finished three races in 1988. Other than his ninth in Monaco, he was classified 19th and last at Silverstone after running out of fuel on lap 60 of the 65 lap race, and 12th in Portugal. After scoring no points in the first half of the season to the British Grand Prix, Osella was forced into pre-qualifying. Larini failed to pre-qualify the car in both Hungary and at the final round in Australia. The car's best qualifying performance was at the Spanish Grand Prix where Larini ended up 14th on the grid.
On average, Larini and the FA1L qualified some 5.8 seconds slower than the pole winning times set during the season.
The FA1L was replaced by the FA1M for the 1989 season. As turbo power was banned by the FIA from 1989, the FA1M was powered by the naturally aspirated Ford DFR V8 engine. Although the team scored no points with the FA1M, the car did prove more competitive in the hands of Larini and his veteran team mate Piercarlo Ghinzani.