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Andrea de Cesaris (born 31 May 1959, Rome, Italy), a race car driver, holds two distinctions in Formula One: the longest career without a race victory (207 grand prix starts), and also his unofficial title of 'Andrea de Crasheris', owing to his proneness to accidents.
A multiple kart champion, de Cesaris graduated to Formula 3 in Britain, winning numerous events before his tendency to make silly mistakes cost him dearly, and he finished 2nd in the championship to Chico Serra. Moving up first to Formula 2 with future McLaren boss Ron Dennis' Project 4 team, in 1980, de Cesaris was then picked up by Alfa Romeo for the final events of the 1980 World Championship. It was the start of his 14-year association with Formula 1.
His reputation within the sport was cemented in his early years. Driving for McLaren in 1981, the paddock rumour of the time was he was causing so much damage to his cars that his mechanics started to refuse to repair them. Moving back to Alfa in 1982, de Cesaris became the youngest man ever at that point to take pole position, at the Long Beach Grand Prix, only to crash out later. From this point onwards, de Cesaris was nearly always seen by most in the paddock as prone to occasional brilliance but more often than not, erratic behaviour. However, de Cesaris rarely produced a mediocre performance. Twice he came close to winning, both times at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, widely recognised as the greatest test of driver skill in modern GP racing. On both occasions, 1983 and a remarkable drive for Jordan in 1991, it was mechanical failure rather than an accident that robbed him of the ultimate prize.
The vast majority of the rest of his career was spent driving moderate machinery, often crashing trying to make up the deficit in performance with the talent that he unquestionably had. Whether or not driving a race winning car might have settled his high pressure driving style will never be known, and the repuation that is likely to be remembered is de Cesaris as the crasher.
Now retired from motor-racing, de Cesaris is a successful broker in Monte Carlo.
He participated in 213 grands prix, debuting on September 28, 1980. He achieved 5 podiums, and scored a total of 59 championship points.
Complete Formula One results
(Note: grands prix in bold denote points scoring races.)
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