Andrea de Cesaris: The Fast, Wild Italian Who Never Won a Formula One Race

Andrea de Cesaris was an Italian racing driver who raced in Formula One between 1980 and 1994. He started 208 Grands Prix without winning one, a record that stood until Nico Hulkenberg passed it at the 2024 Miami Grand Prix. Early crashes gave him a name as a quick but reckless racer.

Who was Andrea de Cesaris?

Andrea de Cesaris was born on 31 May 1959 and was killed on 5 October 2014. Across his career he is credited with 214 grands prix, while his 208 Formula One starts are the figure usually quoted for races without a win.

His career produced five podiums, one pole position and 59 championship points. He scored points for nine of the ten teams he raced for, and the exception was Minardi, the only team that never gave him a result.

Outside racing he became a successful currency broker in Monte Carlo. He spent around six months of each year on that work and the rest of the time windsurfing in Hawaii, Mexico and around the world, which kept him fit when he returned to competition.

Fast enough to finish on the podium and wild enough to crash 19 times in a single McLaren season.

How did de Cesaris start his career?

De Cesaris was a multiple karting champion before he moved to cars. He graduated to Formula Three in Britain, won numerous events and finished second in the 1979 British Formula Three Championship, behind Chico Serra.

From Formula Three he moved into Formula 2 with the Project 4 team run by Ron Dennis, which later merged with McLaren. His early promise in that category meant that Formula One teams took notice of him before the 1980 season.

Early accidents gave him a label that followed him through the rest of his career.

What happened in his Alfa Romeo years?

Alfa Romeo picked de Cesaris up for the final events of the 1980 World Championship. He replaced Vittorio Brambilla, who had stepped in for Patrick Depailler after Depailler was killed testing at Hockenheim. His first race in Canada ended after eight laps with engine failure.

At the United States race in Watkins Glen his path crossed with Derek Daly's Tyrrell, and the catch fencing ended his afternoon after two laps. The incident was an early sign of the pattern that would define parts of his career.

Alfa Romeo kept him for 1982 and 1983. At Long Beach in 1982 he became the youngest driver to take pole position in the history of the race, and he was only the second Alfa Romeo driver to secure a pole since 1951. He led the race until he hit the rev limiter while passing a backmarker, which let Niki Lauda take the lead and the win.

In 1982 he finished on the podium at Monte Carlo and scored a point in Canada. At Monaco that year he ran out of fuel on the final lap, at the same moment as Didier Pironi retired, which handed Riccardo Patrese his first Formula One win.

The 1983 turbo Alfa Romeo gave him two second places. The first was at Hockenheim, where he scored his first points of the season, and the second was at Kyalami, 9.319 seconds behind Patrese. At Spa he had comfortably led Alain Prost for much of the race before a botched pit stop and a blown engine put him out.

Why was his McLaren spell so short?

In 1981 de Cesaris joined McLaren, partly because his personal Marlboro sponsorship also served the team's main sponsor. The squad had merged with Ron Dennis's Project Four team after 1980, and de Cesaris was considered fast on occasion, especially at quick circuits.

He crashed 19 times that season, in practice or in races, and many of the accidents came from driver error. McLaren was so worried about the car that it withdrew his car from the Dutch Grand Prix after he qualified 13th. He finished only six of the 14 races he started.

The crashes earned him the nickname Andrea de Crasheris. Dennis grew frustrated with the constant accidents, did not extend his contract and never again hired an Italian driver for the team.

In July 1981 he and Henri Pescarolo finished second in a six-hour endurance race at Watkins Glen in a Lancia, though they finished two laps behind the winners. It was one of the few bright moments of a difficult year for the driver.

What did his Ligier and Minardi years look like?

De Cesaris moved to Ligier in 1984. Despite the promising Renault turbo engine, he scored only three points that season. At the end of 1984 he went to Australia to drive in the last domestic Australian Grand Prix before it joined the world championship.

There he drove a Ford-powered Ralt RT4, qualified fifth and recovered from a late pit exit to finish third, without losing a lap. Roberto Moreno won the race, and Keke Rosberg was second.

The 1985 season started well with a fourth place at Monaco. At the Austrian Grand Prix he destroyed his Ligier JS25 in a quadruple mid-air rollover, and Guy Ligier dismissed him, saying he could no longer afford him. Philippe Streiff replaced him after the next race at Zandvoort.

In 1986 he joined Minardi, where he was often outpaced by fellow Italian and rookie Alessandro Nannini. For the first time in his career he failed to score a point in a whole season. He retired from every race except two, failing to qualify at Monaco and finishing eighth in Mexico.

How did his Brabham, Rial and Dallara years go?

In 1987 he switched to Brabham-BMW, a team owned by Bernie Ecclestone. The results were better, although he mostly failed to match his teammate Riccardo Patrese. He failed to finish 14 of the 16 races that year.

At the 1987 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa he finished third behind Alain Prost and Stefan Johansson. That was his first podium since the 1983 South African Grand Prix and his first points in nearly two years. He did not finish another race that season.

For 1988 Brabham pulled out of Formula One, and de Cesaris moved to the new Rial team, run by Gunter Schmid. He qualified for all 16 races and took fourth at Detroit. He also ran dry twice in the closing laps while holding a points place, in Canada and Australia.

In 1989 he joined the Marlboro-backed Scuderia Italia team, driving a Dallara. He was on course for a podium at Monaco before Nelson Piquet took him out at the Loews hairpin. He lost his temper and berated Piquet's team in the pits. At the next race in Canada he finished third behind the Williams drivers, and that was the last time he stood on a Formula One podium.

The 1990 season was a further struggle. He crashed at the start of the race at Interlagos and again at Imola. While lapping, he came close to taking out Nigel Mansell's Ferrari, and James Hunt called him an idiot on live BBC television. The car was unreliable, and he failed to score a point all year.

Did he find form again with Jordan?

Eddie Jordan signed de Cesaris for the team's first season in Formula One in 1991. He had already run him in Formula 3, and his results at Jordan were the best of his later years.

In Canada he finished fourth, and he repeated that result in Mexico. In France he finished sixth, and in Germany he took fifth after qualifying seventh. He qualified and finished well at Monaco too, running in the points until a throttle cable snapped.

His best race that year came at Spa, where he moved from the back of the grid into second place. His Ford HB V8 then blew, because a communication problem between Ford and the Jordan team meant the oil tank was too small for a new type of piston ring.

He finished ninth in the championship, his best result since 1983. Despite being outqualified by debutant teammate Michael Schumacher, he had produced his best season for some time.

How did his Tyrrell and Sauber seasons end?

Financial problems at Jordan meant he could not stay for 1992, and Ken Tyrrell hired him instead. He took fifth in Mexico, despite being caught up in an early spin, and later scored points three more times, including fourth at the Japanese Grand Prix.

In 1993 the Tyrrell team used a Yamaha V10 engine, which changed both the dynamics and the reliability of the car. The Tyrrell 021 with active suspension was not a success, and he failed to score a point for the third time in his career.

In 1994 he began the season without a drive for the first time since 1980. Eddie Irvine's ban for causing the Brazilian accident opened a door for him at Jordan, and he returned at San Marino. He did not start well, damaging a chassis in testing and crashing at Imola. He then finished fourth at Monaco and was signed by Sauber to replace the injured Karl Wendlinger.

His first race for Sauber was his 200th Grand Prix, in Canada, where he retired after 24 laps. He scored points at the next event, the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours. His career ended when throttle problems forced him to retire at the European Grand Prix, and JJ Lehto replaced him for the final two races.

What is his place in the record books?

He ended with 208 Grand Prix starts, a total that at the time trailed only Riccardo Patrese's. Numerous drivers have since passed that total, but his tally without a win stood as a record until 2024.

He holds the record for the most consecutive non-finishes, 18, across 1985 and 1986, although many of those came from mechanical failures. He also set the record for the most successive non-finishes in a season, 12 in 1987.

No driver has had more than his 14 retirements in a 16-race season. Looking at the teams, he scored points for nine of ten outfits, with Minardi the one exception.

How did his later career and death shape his reputation?

After Formula One he joined the Grand Prix Masters series for retired drivers. In 2005 he set the fastest time in the first test at Silverstone, and at Kyalami he raced to fourth after a battle with Derek Warwick.

He died on 5 October 2014, at 55, after losing control of his Suzuki motorbike on Rome's Grande Raccordo Anulare motorway. Italian press reported that he died on impact with the guard rail in the outer lane, near the Bufalotta turn-off.

How do his results compare across his career?