Despite the fact that designer John Barnard left the project half-way through the work, the F1-90 would turn out to be a competitive single-seater – the first after some difficult years – and beautiful. Its performance allowed the defending World Champion Alain Prost to fight until the end for the title, assisted by Nigel Mansell, and to have to surrender to Ayrton Senna only at the very last. Its aerodynamic and sinuous lines granted it a place at the Moma in New York: the only race car exhibited to date.