For 1988, the car was updated to conform to the new regulations and renamed the F1/87/88C. The car also featured new front and rear wings and a slightly lower engine cover. The drivers Michele Alboreto and Gerhard Berger finished third and fifth in the driver's championship with Ferrari finishing second to McLaren in the Constructors Championship. The F1/87/88C scored one pole position at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone and one victory at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza.
Although it was one of the most powerful cars of the 1988 field at around 650 bhp (485 kW; 659 PS), the F1/87/88C's biggest problem was fuel consumption compared to the rival Honda engines used by McLaren. Ferrari, unlike Honda who had built a completely new V6 engine to cope with the lower turbo limit of 2.5 bar, had only updated their 1987 engine for 1988 and in the first half of the season suffered badly with fuel consumption. At the British GP for instance Berger led for the field together with McLaren's Ayrton Senna, building up a large cushion over the rest of the field before being forced to back off to conserve fuel. While Senna went on to a comfortable win in very wet conditions Berger was forced to drive slower and slower and still ran out of fuel coming out of the Woodcote Chicane on the last lap. As a result he fell from 5th to 9th, being passed by World Champion Nelson Piquet in his Lotus-Honda, the Arrows Megatron's of Derek Warwick and Eddie Cheever and the Williams-Judd of Riccardo Patrese in the space of 400m. Both Berger and Alboreto being forced to back off because of fuel consumption problems were a feature of the 1988 season although the problem seemed to have been righted to some extent before the team's surprise 1-2 at Monza.
Early in the season, the team's Technical Director John Barnard had recommended to the team's engineers that they reduce the Tipo 033A's revs by 1,000 and re-map the engine to compensate for the loss in power. Barnard's advice was ignored however and the team struggled on fuel. It was not until before the Grand Prix at Monza that changes were made to the engines which happened to match Barnard's suggestions, the result being better fuel economy without power loss, though the Ferraris were still thirstier than the Hondas.
During the 1988 season, Berger's Ferrari speed trapped the highest of all 1988 cars when he was clocked at 328 km/h (204 mph) in practice for the German Grand Prix at the old Hockenheim circuit. This compared to the McLaren-Honda's recorded top speed of 320 km/h (199 mph) at the same meeting, while the fastest 'atmo' car was the Judd engined March 881 of Ivan Capelli which recorded 312 km/h (194 mph).
While using the F1/87 and 88C for the races during the 1987 and 1988 seasons, behind the scenes Ferrari were developing the revolutionary 3.5 litre normally aspirated V12 semi-automatic Ferrari 639 and Ferrari 640 which would make its debut in the 1989 season when turbo powered engines were banned from F1. Initially it was hoped that the V12 car would make its race debut in 1988 but continual problems with the semi-automatic gearbox that would haunt the team during the first half of 1989 (or more specifically, problems with the electrical system that controlled the unique 7 speed box) meant the team was forced to use the F1/87/88C for all of 1988. A modified version of the F1/87/88C was initially used as a test mule for the new V12 engine and semi-automatic gearbox until the 639, and later the 640, first appeared for testing late in 1988.
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Gerhard Berger driving the F1/87/88C at the 1988 Canadian Grand Prix.
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Michele Alboreto driving the F1/87/88C at the 1988 Canadian GP.
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