Andrea de Cesaris (Italian pronunciation: [anˈdrɛːa de ˈtʃeːzaris]; 31 May 1959 – 5 October 2014) was an Italian racing driver, who competed in Formula One from 1980 to 1994.
De Cesaris started 208 Formula One Grands Prix without victory, holding the record for the most races without a win from 1989 until being surpassed by Nico Hülkenberg at the 2024 Miami Grand Prix. A string of accidents early in his career earned him a reputation for being a fast but wild driver.
In 2005 and 2006, de Cesaris competed in the Grand Prix Masters formula for retired Formula One drivers. He died on 5 October 2014 after losing control of his motorcycle on Rome's Grande Raccordo Anulare motorway.
A multiple karting champion, de Cesaris graduated to Formula 3 in Britain, winning numerous events and finishing second in the 1979 British Formula Three Championship, as runner up to Chico Serra. From Formula 3, he graduated to Formula 2 with future McLaren boss Ron Dennis' Project 4 team.
Related article: Alfa Romeo in Formula One
In 1980, de Cesaris was picked up by Alfa Romeo for the final events of the 1980 World Championship, replacing Vittorio Brambilla who had, in turn, replaced Patrick Depailler when he was killed during testing at Hockenheim. His first race in Canada ended after eight laps because of engine failure. In his second race, at Watkins Glen in the United States, he tangled with Derek Daly in a Tyrrell at the Junction corner and crashed into the catch fencing after two laps.
In 1981, largely thanks to his personal Marlboro sponsorship which also happened to be McLaren's main sponsor, de Cesaris landed a seat at McLaren which had merged with the Project Four Formula 2 team run by Ron Dennis after the 1980 season. During the season, de Cesaris proved to be fast on occasion (particularly at fast circuits), but he crashed 19 times that season either in practice or in the race, often due to driver error. The team was so worried that he would crash the car that they withdrew his car from the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort after he qualified 13th. De Cesaris managed to finish only six of the 14 races he started that year. Due to the frequent crashes, he earned the nickname "Andrea de Crasheris"; team boss Ron Dennis grew so annoyed with de Cesaris's constant crashes that not only did he not extend the Italian's contract, he never actually hired an Italian driver to McLaren ever again.
In July 1981, de Cesaris and Henri Pescarolo finished second to the team of Riccardo Patrese and Michele Alboreto in a six-hour endurance race at Watkins Glen, New York. Both teams drove Lancia cars with de Cesaris and Pescarolo finishing two laps behind.
Related article: Alfa Romeo in Formula One
After switching back to Alfa Romeo in 1982, de Cesaris became the youngest man ever to take pole position at the Long Beach Grand Prix. De Cesaris was also only the second Alfa Romeo driver to capture a pole since 1951. De Cesaris led the race but as he was passing a backmarker at a tight corner with Niki Lauda right behind him in second, de Cesaris waved his fist at the backmarker and forgot to change gear and hit the rev limiter, which allowed Lauda to take the lead and win the race; de Cesaris suffered rear brake failure and crashed hard at Pine Avenue.
In the 1982 season, de Cesaris earned a podium finish at Monte Carlo and a point in Canada. At the 1982 Monaco Grand Prix, Didier Pironi retired on the final lap due to electrical trouble with his Ferrari. De Cesaris ran out of fuel at the same time, allowing Riccardo Patrese to win his first Formula 1 race.
In 1983, with his Alfa Romeo now using a turbo engine, he took two second places, one at the 1983 German Grand Prix at Hockenheim (his first points of the season) and the other one in the season-closing 1983 South African Grand Prix at Kyalami, 9.319 seconds behind Riccardo Patrese. De Cesaris came close to winning at Spa-Francorchamps, after comfortably leading the Renault of Alain Prost for much of the race before a botched pit stop delayed him and a blown engine put him out of the race.
De Cesaris moved to Ligier in 1984, where despite the car's promising Renault turbo engine, he scored only three points during the season.
At the end of 1984, de Cesaris and Ligier teammate François Hesnault travelled to Australia to drive in the 1984 Australian Grand Prix, the last domestic Australian Grand Prix before the race became part of the Formula One World Championship in 1985. Driving a Ford BDA powered Ralt RT4 (18 of the 25 car field were RT4s), de Cesaris qualified in fifth place. After entering the pits at the end of the warm up lap, he exited the pits moments before the green flag and was almost a lap behind when the race started. He then proceeded to put in what many consider as the drive of the day to eventually finish third (without ever losing a lap) behind Roberto Moreno (winner) and Keke Rosberg.
In 1985, a number of strong performances, including a fourth place at Monaco, showed early promise but the season turned into a dismal one after de Cesaris destroyed his Ligier JS25 in a quadruple mid-air rollover at the Austrian Grand Prix, and was fired by team boss Guy Ligier as a result. Guy Ligier stated that "I can no longer afford to employ this man", despite Marlboro paying the bulk of de Cesaris' salary. He was kept in the team until the next race at Zandvoort, after which he was replaced by Philippe Streiff.
In 1986, de Cesaris moved to Minardi. He was often outpaced by his teammate, fellow Italian and F1 rookie Alessandro Nannini during the season. For the first time in his career, de Cesaris went the entire season without scoring a point; he retired from every race but two (DNQ in Monaco, eighth in Mexico).
In 1987, de Cesaris switched to Brabham-BMW. With the Bernie Ecclestone-owned team he was able to achieve better results, even though he mostly failed to match his teammate Riccardo Patrese. He did not finish (DNF) 14 of 16 races. At the 1987 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa, Belgium, de Cesaris placed third behind Alain Prost and Stefan Johansson, his first points in nearly two years and his first podium finish since the final round of the 1983 season in South Africa. He would not finish another race that season.
For 1988, Brabham pulled out of Formula One and de Cesaris switched to the new Rial team, run by German Günter Schmid, the former boss of the ATS outfit. With a Cosworth engine in the car, de Cesaris managed to qualify for all sixteen races of the season and take fourth place in the Detroit Grand Prix. He also twice ran out of fuel in the last laps while running in the points, in Canada and Australia.