When Harvey Postlethwaite joined Tyrrell, his first design was the 018, which had a modestly successful 1989 season. For the follow-up, Postlethwaite and Chief Designer Jean-Claude Migeot turned their attention to aerodynamic efficiency, particularly the management of underbody airflow.
At the time, while full ground-effect designs had been banned, cars still generated significant downforce through a combination of a flat undertray and a large rear diffuser. Postlethwaite and Migeot identified that the conventional low nose cone was undermining this system by diverting air sideways and upwards around the bodywork, reducing the volume of air passing beneath the car. Since generating low pressure underneath depends on increasing the velocity of air flowing through that channel, maximising the volume of air entering below the car was critical.
Their solution was to raise the nose cone substantially, channelling more air beneath the chassis and thus improving downforce from the underbody. This produced the 019's distinctive inverted-V, anhedral front profile — a shape that looked unconventional but was grounded in sound aerodynamic reasoning. The front wings were positioned as low as possible to compensate for the raised nose, addressing the competing requirement that front wing aerofoils generate more downforce the closer they are to the ground.
The 019 was powered by the 3.5-litre Cosworth DFR V8 engine, tuned for Tyrrell by Hart Racing Engines to produce approximately 620 bhp.
The 019 was introduced two races into the 1990 Formula One season and made an immediate impression. Jean Alesi, driving on its debut, qualified seventh and finished sixth to score a point in the San Marino Grand Prix. At Monaco, Alesi was even more spectacular — he qualified in a strong position and finished second, battling Ayrton Senna for the lead during the race. These results made Alesi one of the most talked-about newcomers of the season.
Despite those early high-water marks, the remainder of the 1990 season yielded only two further points finishes. The 019 lacked the power and overall development of the leading teams' machinery, and its aerodynamic innovation could not fully compensate for the deficit in resources. The car was replaced at the end of the season by the Tyrrell 020, which further refined Postlethwaite's high-nose concept.
The Tyrrell 019's lasting significance far exceeds its points tally. By raising the nose cone, Postlethwaite and Migeot established a template that rapidly spread across Formula One. As other teams experimented with the principle, the high nose became progressively standard through the early 1990s and was essentially universal by 1996. The last championship-winning car to use a low nose design was the Williams FW16 in 1994 — just four years after the 019 demonstrated the concept. Every Formula One championship-winning chassis since has followed the aerodynamic principle Tyrrell pioneered.
The 019 won the Autosport Racing Car of the Year Award for 1990, acknowledging that its technical contribution outweighed its modest race results. The car stands as one of the more influential designs in Formula One history, a small-team innovation that permanently changed how all constructors approach front-end aerodynamics.