The car proved to be fast, and Mansell took it to victory in its début race in
Brazil, despite fears of unreliability (the potential of the new car, with its innovative aerodynamics, gearbox, and V12 engine was clear - Mansell declared on the eve of the Brazilian race that if "the car had even half the horsepower it sounds like it has, we'll win every race this year...", while Berger declared that "The (semi-automatic transmission) system is super" despite its unreliability). However, it did not record another finish until the
French Grand Prix, and there were to be no races in which both drivers finished. But when the car did finish, it did so in a position no lower than third, with Mansell taking second in both France and his home race at
Silverstone, third in
Germany where the long straights saw the Ferrari V12 almost breathless against the more powerful Honda V10s (though they still had the advantage over the
Renault V10s of
Williams and the
Ford V8 powered
Benettons), a second win in
Hungary which was highlighted by his passing move on Senna to take the lead, and finally third at
Spa, before Berger finished second at
Monza, won in
Portugal - a race where the Ferraris were clearly more competitive than the championship-winning
McLarens - and finished second again in
Spain. The
carbon fibre monocoque also proved to be very strong, allowing Berger to escape from a fiery high-speed crash at
Imola with only minor burns to his hands and a couple of broken ribs. In a 2013 interview, Berger revealed the reason for the crash was the front wing had broken on the car, though as the right front wheel had risen his initial thought was rear suspension failure or a flat left rear tyre. He then revealed that even in the short time it took from the car not responding to the time it hit the wall, he also realised the car was almost full of fuel and could catch fire. From then he was briefly knocked unconscious, but was awake and aware only a minute or so later. Berger's injuries were enough to keep him out of the
Monaco Grand Prix, but with the help of
Niki Lauda's physiotherapist Willy Dungl and the semi-automatic gearbox's advantage of not having to take his hands off the steering wheel to change gears, the Austrian was able to return one race later in
Mexico. According to Barnard, he had been searching for a way to eliminate the old manual transmission in racing cars since he had designed the
Chaparral 2K that had taken
Johnny Rutherford to victory in the
1980 Indianapolis 500. This was purely from an aerodynamic perspective as the manual transmission (usually located on the drivers' right-hand side) had meant that a car's
monocoque had to be wider than desirable to accommodate the stick shift and its link to the gearbox located at the rear of a car. The semi-automatic transmission with its paddle-shifters located behind the steering wheel, along with an electrohydraulically-operated clutch pedal, had eliminated the need for this and had allowed Barnard to design the Ferrari with its distinctive sharp nose. At the end of the season, Mansell was fourth in the Drivers' Championship with 38 points, while Berger was seventh with 21. Berger, third in the 1988 Drivers' Championship, only finished 3 races during the season and retired from 10 of the first 11 races (missing Monaco). His first points came in Round 12 at Monza with a second-place before winning in Portugal and finishing 2nd again in
Spain. Ferrari battled with
Williams for second in the Constructors' Championship for much of the year but ultimately settled for third, with 59 points. Ferrari lost 2nd in the Constructors' Championship when both Mansell and Berger failed to finish the final two races of the year in
Japan and
Australia, while both Williams drivers finished second and third at
Suzuka, and first and third in
Adelaide. For the season, the 640 was replaced with the
641. ==Complete Formula One results==