Andrea de Cesaris (CHES-ah-iss; born 31 May, 1959 in Rome, RM, Lazio, Italy – died 5 October 2014 in Rome) was an Italian racing driver who competed in Formula One from 1980 until 1994.
He drove for many teams, the full list comprising of Alfa Romeo (twice), McLaren, Ligier, Minardi, Brabham, Rial, Scuderia Italia (Dallara), Jordan (twice), Tyrrell and finally Sauber.
De Cesaris remains the driver to have competed in the most Grand Prix's in Formula One without a race win. De Cesaris was notorious during the 1980's and 1990's as a driver who was prone to have quite significant accidents which earned him the nickname "Andrea de Crasheris", although he cleaned up his act in later years.
He died in 2014 aged 55 in a motorbike accident in Rome.
Formula One Career[edit | edit source]
Alfa Romeo[edit | edit source]
Andrea de Cearis started his career with Alfa Romeo in the latter stages of the 1980 season, replacing Vittorio Brambilla for the Canadian and United States Grands Prix. He retired in both races, an engine failure in the first and a crash in the second.
McLaren[edit | edit source]
Helped by connections with Marlboro, McLaren gave De Cesaris a drive for the 1981 season. But his lack of experience (and skill to a lesser extent) meant he only scored one point, compared to teammate John Watson's 27, who also won a race. He started fourteen races, crashing or spinning off eight times. He was dropped at the end of the season.
Return to Alfa Romeo[edit | edit source]
De Cesaris returned to Alfa Romeo in 1982 and showed his raw speed, scoring his first (and only) pole position at the United States Grand Prix West becoming the then-youngest polesitter, although he retired from the race. He then managed to score his first podium at the Monaco Grand Prix, despite running out of fuel on the last lap.
In 1983, De Cesaris had his best season, twice finishing in second place. He also lead the the Belgian Grand Prix, before a bad pit stop and a retirement stopped that from happening.
Ligier[edit | edit source]
Minardi[edit | edit source]
Brabham[edit | edit source]
de Cesaris switched to drive the Brabham team, which was the Ecclestone-owned team. It was de Cesaris' worst season as he retired in 14 out of 16 races.
de Cesaris retired with a differential problem at Brazil, spun off at San Marino, suffered a suspension failure (after hitting a wall) at Monaco and a gearbox failure at Detroit, turbo problem at France and Great Britain, engine failure at Germany, another gearbox failure at Hungary, another engine failure at Austria and another suspension failure at Italy, injection failure at Portugal, another gearbox failure at Spain, crash at Mexico and then his third engine failure in Japan.
Rial[edit | edit source]
Scuderia Italia[edit | edit source]
Jordan[edit | edit source]
Tyrrell[edit | edit source]
Final season (Jordan and Sauber)[edit | edit source]
Formula One Statistical Overview[edit | edit source]
Formula One Record[edit | edit source]
Year | Entrant | Team | WDC Pts. | WDC Pos. | Report |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1980 | Alfa Romeo | 0 | NC | Report | |
1981 | McLaren-Ford Cosworth | 1 | 18th | Report | |
1982 | Alfa Romeo | 5 | 17th | Report | |
1983 | Alfa Romeo | 15 | 8th | Report | |
1984 | Ligier-Renault | 3 | 18th | Report | |
1985 | Ligier-Renault | 3 | 17th | Report | |
1986 | Minardi-Motori Moderni | 0 | NC | Report | |
1987 | Brabham-BMW | 4 | 14th | Report | |
1988 | Rial-Ford Cosworth | 3 | 15th | Report | |
1989 | Dallara-Ford Cosworth | 4 | 16th | Report | |
1990 | Dallara-Ford Cosworth | 0 | NC | Report | |
1991 | Jordan-Ford Cosworth | 9 | 9th | Report | |
1992 | Tyrrell-Ilmor | 8 | 9th | Report | |
1993 | Tyrrell-Yamaha | 0 | NC | Report | |
1994 | Jordan-Hart | 4 | 20th | Report | |
Sauber-Mercedes | |||||
Career Statistics[edit | edit source]
Entries | 214 |
Starts | 208 |
Pole Positions | 1 |
Front Row Starts | 2 |
Race Wins | 0 |
Podiums | 5 |
Fastest laps | 1 |
Points | 59 |
Laps Raced | 7702 |
Distance Raced | 35597.287 km (22119 mi) |
Races Led | 2 |
Laps Led | 32 |
Distance Led | 175.448 km (109 mi) |
Career Results[edit | edit source]
Complete Formula One results | ||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | Pts | Pos | ||||
1980 | 0 | NC | ||||||||||||||||||||
Ret | Ret | |||||||||||||||||||||
1981 | ![]() |
1 | 18th | |||||||||||||||||||
Ret | Ret | 11th | 6th | Ret | Ret | Ret | 11th | Ret | Ret | 8th | DNS | 7th* | Ret | 12th | ||||||||
1982 | 5 | 17th | ||||||||||||||||||||
13th | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | 3rd* | Ret | 6th* | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | 10th | 10th | 9th | |||||||
1983 | 15 | 8th | ||||||||||||||||||||
EXC | Ret | 12th | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | 8th | 2nd | Ret | Ret | Ret | 4th | 2nd | ||||||||
1984 | 3 | 18th | ||||||||||||||||||||
Ret | 5th | Ret | 6th* | 10th | Ret [1] |
Ret | Ret | Ret | 10th | 7th | Ret | Ret | Ret | 7th | 12th | |||||||
1985 | 3 | 17th | ||||||||||||||||||||
Ret | Ret | Ret | 4th | 14th | 10th | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | ||||||||||||
1986 | ![]() |
0 | NC | |||||||||||||||||||
Ret | Ret | Ret | DNQ | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | 8th | Ret | |||||||
1987 | ![]() |
4 | 14th | |||||||||||||||||||
Ret | Ret | 3rd | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | 8th* | |||||||
1988 | ![]() |
3 | 15th | |||||||||||||||||||
Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | 9th* | 4th | 10th | Ret | 13th | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | 8th* | |||||||
1989 | ![]() |
4 | 16th | |||||||||||||||||||
13th | 10th | 13th | Ret | Ret | 3rd | DNQ | Ret | 7th | Ret | 11th | Ret | Ret | 7th | 10th | Ret | |||||||
1990 | ![]() |
0 | NC | |||||||||||||||||||
Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | 13th | DSQ | Ret | DNQ | Ret | Ret | 10th | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | |||||||
1991 | ![]() |
9 | 9th | |||||||||||||||||||
DNPQ | Ret | Ret | Ret | 4th | 4th | 6th | Ret | 5th | 7th | 13th* | 7th | 8th | Ret | Ret | 8th [2] | |||||||
1992 | ![]() |
8 | 9th | |||||||||||||||||||
Ret | 5th | Ret | Ret | 14th* | Ret | 5th | Ret | Ret | Ret | 8th | 8th | 6th | 9th | 4th | Ret | |||||||
1993 | ![]() |
0 | NC | |||||||||||||||||||
Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | DSQ | 10th | Ret | 15th | NC | Ret | 11th | Ret | 13th* | 12th | Ret | 13th | |||||||
1994 | ![]() |
4 | 19th | |||||||||||||||||||
Ret | 4th | Ret | 6th | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | ||||||||||||
Key | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Symbol | Meaning | Symbol | Meaning | ||
1st | Winner | Ret | Retired | ||
2nd | Podium finish | DSQ | Disqualified | ||
3rd | DNQ | Did not qualify | |||
5th | Points finish | DNPQ | Did not pre-qualify | ||
14th | Non-points finish | TD | Test driver | ||
NC | Non-classified finish (<90% race distance) | DNS | Did not start | ||
Italics | Scored point(s) for Fastest Lap | [+] More Symbols |
* Did not finish, but completed over 90% of the race-winner's distance and was classified.