Andrea de Cesaris
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Template:Former F1 driver 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.He has been also described as a "mobile chicane" since it was quite a nuisance to pass him or even lap him.
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, thanks in large part to his family connections with the Marlboro cigarette brand. Having ready access to what, for many years, was Formula One's most lavish paymaster helped sustain the Italian's career through some pretty depressing troughs.
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.
That season with Jordan was followed by another promising year driving for Tyrrell in 1992. The next year with Tyrrell in 1993 was typical of his luck during much of his career. A year driving a below average car, often crashing trying to make up the deficit in performance with the talent that he unquestionably had. That said, during the last four years of his career de Cesaris displayed maturity and could often be relied on to score points. In 1994 he returned to his old team Jordan filling in for the suspended Eddie Irvine. Eyes rolled in the team when de Cesaris wrote off a chassis in testing, before crashing out of the accident-filled San Marino Grand Prix at Imola in 1994. Andrea then made amends in the next race in Monaco, taking a well-judged fourth position behind a Bennetton, McLaren and Ferrari. The performances were enough to catch the eye of Peter Sauber. When Karl Wendlinger was badly injured at Monte Carlo Sauber chose de Cesaris to replace him. While promising in its initial guise the Sauber C19 became more difficult after being changed to comply with the FIA's emergency safety regulations. A sixth at the French Grand Prix at Magny Cours was the highlight. The career of Andrea de Cesaris then ended much as it began, when he spun off during his last race, the Portugese Grand Prix. After this Sauber kept his promise to return the car to Karl Wendlinger if he was fit enough. In the end he wasn't, and JJ Lehto replaced de Cesaris for the final two Grand Prix.
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. An ongoing joke among the McLaren team was that his car carried entry number eight (8) because it could be read correctly when the car was up-side down.
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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