10% discount on your first order — create a free account

Create Account
✓ 14-day returns ✓ Hand-checked before shipping ✓ Secure checkout
Account

Tyrrell Ford 018 #4 J. Alesi Japanese GP 1989 Minichamps 1:18

Tyrrell Ford 018 #4 J. Alesi Japanese GP 1989 Minichamps 1:18 110891504 Diecast
1 / 6
Minichamps' 1:18 diecast Tyrrell Ford 018 recreates Jean Alesi's #4 car from the 1989 Japanese Grand Prix, part of the rookie season that preceded his rise to Ferrari and championship contention. The blue and white period livery is rendered in period-correct tampo print over a Cosworth-powered mid-grid chassis. A discovery piece for collectors tracing F1 careers back to their beginnings.
Tyrrell Ford 018 #4 J. Alesi Japanese GP 1989 Minichamps 1:18
Current price: 142.00 €
Last one in stock
Estimated delivery: 06-11.08.2026
Shipping from 37.00 €
10% discount on your first order — create a free account
Pay securely with
Shipping to United States (US) Worldwide delivery
Prices exclude VAT No hidden costs
Shipping from 18.00 € Tracked & insured
Pay in EUR € Local currency
Specifications
Brand
Tyrrell
Manufacturer
Minichamps
Scale
1:18
Material
Diecast
Model Condition
Used Model
SKU
110891504
100% authentic Direct from manufacturers
5-layer carton Foam-filled interior
Easy returns 14 days, no questions asked
Secure payment 256-bit SSL encryption

About the Tyrrell Ford 018 #4 J. Alesi Japanese GP 1989 Minichamps 1:18

TL;DR: Minichamps' 1:18 diecast Tyrrell Ford 018 reproduces Jean Alesi's #4 car from the 1989 Japanese Grand Prix, raced during his rookie season with the team before his move to Ferrari. Period-correct blue and white livery and a Ford-Cosworth DFR-powered chassis document an early chapter in a championship-caliber career.

Nobody watching the 1989 Japanese Grand Prix knew they were looking at a future Ferrari driver and championship contender. Alesi was just a rookie in a mid-grid Tyrrell, and that's precisely what makes this particular car worth collecting.

Minichamps' 1:18 Tyrrell 018 in Alesi's 1989 Livery

Period Livery and Sponsor Detail

The 018 wears Tyrrell's late-1980s blue and white scheme with period sponsor branding across the sidepods and nose, and Minichamps reproduces that livery in tampo print with the kind of flat, accurate registration that period liveries need to look right rather than approximate. The number 4 sits correctly on the nose, matched to Alesi's actual 1989 configuration, and the Ford-Cosworth badging on the engine cover is legible at this scale, a small detail that period F1 collectors specifically look for.

A Conventional-Nose Design Before Tyrrell's Big Idea

Tyrrell became famous a year later for the anhedral high-nose design pioneered on the 019, a shape that changed how Formula 1 cars looked for the next three decades, but the 018 predates that innovation entirely. It carries a conventional, low, flat nose typical of the era, which makes it a useful reference point for collectors who want the 019's high-nose successor on the same shelf: seeing the 018 first makes the following year's redesign look as radical as it actually was.

Alesi's Rookie Season at Tyrrell

A Mid-Season Call-Up That Stuck

Alesi joined Tyrrell as a mid-season substitute in 1989, stepping into a Formula 1 seat after building his reputation in junior categories, and stayed with the team through the rest of that season, including the Japanese Grand Prix this model documents. It was a modest, mid-grid campaign on paper, run with Ford-Cosworth's DFR V8 rather than a factory-backed power unit, but it was also the platform that put his name in front of the sport's bigger teams.

The Road to Ferrari and Championship Contention

Within a few seasons Alesi was driving for Ferrari and fighting for race wins against the era's dominant cars, a trajectory that makes his Tyrrell years genuinely formative rather than a footnote. Collectors who focus on driver careers rather than championship-winning teams often value exactly this kind of car, the mid-grid chassis raced before the reputation was made, over a later, more famous seat.

An Origin-Story Piece for a Late-1980s F1 Shelf

At roughly 22 centimeters, the 018 sits comfortably in any open-wheel display row, and its conventional nose design gives it genuine contrast value next to later, high-nosed Tyrrells or contemporary F1 diecast. This is an honest mid-tier subject, not a headline-grabbing championship car, and that is exactly its appeal: a documented step in a career that turned into something much bigger, at a price that reflects the car's mid-grid results rather than its driver's later fame.

From the same collection

Collectors also bought

Browse all 1:18

10% off your first order

Create a free account and claim 10% off your first order — from hundreds of collectible 1:18, 1:43 and 1:12 models by Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and more.

Create free account Browse the collection
Collectible 1:18 model cars by Porsche, Mercedes-Benz and BMW — Models118 first-order offer
142.00 €
142.00 €
0