Pre-Formula One 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.
Formula One Alfa Romeo (1980) :
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.
McLaren (1981) :
Related article: McLaren 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.
Alfa Romeo (1982–1983) :
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.
Ligier (1984–1985) in the
1984 Dallas Grand Prix. 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 . 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.
Minardi (1986) :
Related article: Minardi 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).
Brabham (1987) :
Related article: Brabham 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.
Rial (1988) :
Related article: Rial 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.
Dallara (1989–1990) :
Related articles: Dallara, BMS Scuderia Italia For 1989, de Cesaris moved to the Marlboro-sponsored Scuderia Italia squad. Early results were again promising. By now one of the more experienced drivers in the field, de Cesaris was on course for a podium position in
Monte Carlo, before being taken out by triple world champion
Nelson Piquet at the Loews Hairpin. De Cesaris lost his temper after the accident and berated Piquet's
Lotus team upon returning to the pits. Two races later, after an early delay, he was being lapped by Dallara teammate
Alex Caffi when he ran his fellow Italian into the wall, robbing his team of a potential podium. De Cesaris finished third at the next race in
Canada, behind
Williams drivers
Thierry Boutsen and
Riccardo Patrese in a rain-soaked race. The race would be the last time de Cesaris stood on the Formula One podium. With a number of teams using either Ford or Judd customer V8s (Dallara used the
Ford DFR) in 1990, the midfield had become more competitive. De Cesaris was involved in a number of incidents during that season, including crashing out at the start of the first lap at
Interlagos and at
Imola. He also nearly took out the
Ferrari of 2nd-placed
Nigel Mansell while being lapped during the race, prompting
BBC commentator and World Champion
James Hunt to call him an idiot on live television. Reliability was a problem for Dallara, and de Cesaris again failed to score a point all season.
Jordan (1991) :
Related article: Jordan Grand Prix Dumped for
JJ Lehto at Dallara at the end of 1990, de Cesaris was signed by
Eddie Jordan for his team's first season in Formula One. Jordan had already run de Cesaris in Formula 3. At the season's first race in
Phoenix, de Cesaris selected the wrong gear in the short pre-qualifying session, buzzed the engine and was out. De Cesaris showed better form at
Monaco, forcing his way past the Benetton of
Roberto Moreno and was running in the points until the Jordan's throttle cable snapped. In the next race in
Canada, de Cesaris finished fourth. He then repeated the result next time out in
Mexico. The following race in
France, he finished sixth. Suspension failure in
Great Britain led him to crash but the Italian bounced back to qualify seventh and finish fifth in
Germany. De Cesaris did not score again until the
1991 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Franchorchamps. Despite the pressure of being outqualified by debutant teammate
Michael Schumacher, de Cesaris moved through the field to take second position until his car's Ford HB V8 blew. A communication problem between Ford and the Jordan team meant the oil tank in the car was too small to service a new type of
piston ring, which used more lubricant. De Cesaris finished the season ninth in the standings, his best result since 1983.
Tyrrell (1992–1993) :
Related article: Tyrrell Racing Despite Eddie Jordan's desire to keep de Cesaris for the 1992 season, financial realities meant it was not possible. Jordan had built up significant debts in his debut season but was able to secure sponsorship from Barclay Cigarettes. However, the brand was in direct conflict with de Cesaris' Marlboro backing.
Ken Tyrrell hired de Cesaris for his team for the 1992 season. De Cesaris took a fifth in the second race of the season in Mexico, despite being caught up in an early spin. De Cesaris was able to score points three more times during the season, with his best result being a fourth place in the
Japanese Grand Prix. at the
1994 British Grand Prix at
Silverstone. For the 1993 season, the Ilmor engine had been replaced with a
Yamaha V10, which changed the dynamics and reliability of the car. The Tyrrell 020 was also replaced mid-season by the Tyrrell 021 due to age. This car, featuring active suspension, was not a success. For the third time in his career, de Cesaris failed to score a point and left Tyrrell at the end of the season.
Jordan and Sauber (1994) :
Related articles: Jordan Grand Prix, Sauber In 1994, for the first time since 1980, de Cesaris started the season without a Formula One drive. But during the
Brazilian Grand Prix,
Eddie Irvine was blamed for causing a massive accident which saw
Jos Verstappen barrel roll over the top of
Martin Brundle. On appeal, Irvine was banned for three races. At the
Pacific Grand Prix,
Aguri Suzuki drove Irvine's vacated Jordan. But for the next race, the
San Marino Grand Prix, Eddie Jordan brought de Cesaris back to the team. The return didn't start well after de Cesaris damaged a chassis during testing. He crashed again during the
San Marino Grand Prix at Imola due to poor fitness, having not driven a race distance in six months. He bounced back in
Monte Carlo, where de Cesaris stayed away from trouble and away from the barriers to take fourth place. Irvine returned for the next race but
Sauber had noticed the Italian's form, and signed him to replace the injured
Karl Wendlinger in the Mercedes-powered machines. De Cesaris' first race for Sauber was his 200th Grand Prix, in
Canada. Although there he retired after 24 laps, he finished in the points at the next event, the
French Grand Prix at
Magny-Cours. De Cesaris' career ended when he retired with throttle problems at the
1994 European Grand Prix.
JJ Lehto replaced him for the final two Grands Prix. De Cesaris ended his career with 208 Grand Prix starts, second only to
Riccardo Patrese at the time. Numerous other drivers have since surpassed his total. ==Legacy==