De Cesaris, Andrea

The early years

De Cesaris was born in Rome on May 31, 1959 . Multiple winner of go-kart championships. He participated in the Formula 3 championship in the UK , in which he won a large number of victories, until a series of mistakes that led to the retirement cost him the championship. As a result, he took second place, passing Francisco Serra ahead.

Formula 1

Alfa Romeo (1980)

In 1980, De Cesaris signed a contract with Alfa Romeo for the final two races of the 1980 World Cup, replacing Vittorio Brambilla , who, in turn, replaced Patrick Depaye , who died in the tests at Hockenheim. His first race in Canada ended after eight laps due to engine failure. In his second race, at Watkins Glen in the USA, he crashed into a track fence at the junction after two laps.

Maclaren (1981)

In 1981, De Cesaris, partly because of his contract with Marlboro, gets a place in McLaren . He managed to finish only 6 of the 14 races. The best result is sixth place in Imola. This was not enough to convince the resurgent McLaren team to sign the contract for next year. It was at that moment that he was coined the nickname "Andrea de Crasheris." The team was so worried that Andrea had an accident that removed his car from the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort , after he qualified 13th.

In July 1981, de Cesaris and Henri Pescarolo took second place in the team of Riccardo Patrese and Michele Alboreto in the endurance race “6 hours Watkins-Glen”. Both teams rode a Lancia Montecarlo . De Cesaris and Pescarolo are two laps behind the winners.

Alfa Romeo (1982-1983)

Returning to Alfa Romeo in 1982, De Cesaris was at that time the youngest pilot to win the pole position at the Grand Prix on the Long Beach circuit. De Cesaris was the co-pilot of Alfa Romeo, who won the pole position since 1952. At the start of the race, he retained leadership until he made a mistake when overtaking the slow race car Raul Boyzel , allowing Niki Lauda to overtake himself. As a result, he flew off the track and broke a car on the 33rd lap of the race. De Cesaris was not injured, although flames swept the entire back of his broken car.

From this moment on, they almost always looked at De Cesaris in the paddock as a rider prone to random glimpses, but most often noted the instability of his results. In the incredible race in Monte Carlo - third place and another point for sixth place in Canada. In Monte Carlo, De Cesaris ran out of fuel at the end of the race, which allowed Riccardo Patrese to win his first Formula 1 Grand Prix after 71 starts. At the start of the Austrian Grand Prix race, while trying to pass an opponent, he was deployed across the entire width of the track and he rammed teammate Bruno Giacomelli.

In 1983, a new turbocharged engine was installed on his Alfa Romeo. This season he won two second places, one in the Hockenheim, at the German Grand Prix - his first points of the season, and the other - at the last stage - the South African Grand Prix on the Kyalami circuit, with a lag of 9.319 seconds behind the winner. De Cesaris was close to winning the Spa, leading most of the race for a long pit stop, and after - the failure of the fuel injection system, led to his departure from the race.

The League (1984-1985)

Minardi (1986)

Brabham (1987)

Rial (1988)

The Dallara (1989-1990)

Jordan (1991)

At the Canadian Grand Prix took fourth place. Repeated this result at the Mexican Grand Prix. At the French Grand Prix finished sixth. At the German Grand Prix, he started from seventh position and took fifth place.

Tyrrell (1992-1993)

In the second race of the 1992 season, the Mexican Grand Prix finished in fifth place. Took fourth place at the Japanese Grand Prix.

The year 1993 was very difficult. Tyrrell was unsuccessful that season. For the third time in his career, De Cesaris did not score a single point in the championship. After the season left Tirrell.

Jordan and Sauber (1994)

Death

Andrea de Cesaris died on October 5, 2014, crashed on a motorcycle.

• Andrea de Cesaris in the Encyclopedia of Formula 1