26 March 1989 — Brazilian Grand Prix
Nigel Mansell won the season-opening Brazilian Grand Prix in Ferrari’s new F1-89, also known by its project number 640. The car used an electro-hydraulically controlled semi-automatic gearbox operated by paddles behind the steering wheel.
Maurizio Cefariello — Wikimedia Commons — CC BY 2.0Automotive significance
John Barnard’s transmission concept removed the conventional gear lever from the Formula 1 cockpit and allowed shifts without the driver taking a hand from the steering wheel. Ferrari had experimented with electro-hydraulic shifting a decade earlier, but the 1989 system made the concept competitive in Grand Prix racing. Mansell’s debut victory gave immediate credibility to a technology that would spread throughout Formula 1 and later into Ferrari road cars.
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