De Cesaris was a multiple karting champion before graduating 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 moved to Formula 2 with future McLaren boss Ron Dennis' Project 4 team.
De Cesaris made his Formula One debut in 1980 with Alfa Romeo, replacing Vittorio Brambilla for the final events of the season. His first race in Canada ended after eight laps with engine failure; in his second at Watkins Glen he tangled with Derek Daly in a Tyrrell and crashed after two laps.
In 1981, supported by personal Marlboro sponsorship — which was also McLaren's main sponsor — de Cesaris joined McLaren, which had merged with Project 4 after the 1980 season. He proved fast at times but crashed 19 times during practice or races that year, often through driver error. The team withdrew his car from the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort after he qualified 13th. He finished only six of the 14 races he started and earned the nickname "Andrea de Crasheris." Ron Dennis did not extend his contract and never hired another Italian driver at McLaren. 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, with both teams driving Lancia cars.
Returning to Alfa Romeo in 1982, de Cesaris became the youngest man ever to take pole position at the Long Beach Grand Prix — also only the second Alfa Romeo driver to take pole since 1951. He led the race but waved his fist at a backmarker, forgot to change gear, hit the rev limiter and let Niki Lauda through; he later suffered rear brake failure and crashed at Pine Avenue.
At the 1982 Monaco Grand Prix he earned a podium. On the final lap Didier Pironi retired with electrical trouble and de Cesaris ran out of fuel simultaneously, allowing Riccardo Patrese to win his first Formula 1 race.
In 1983, now with a turbo engine, de Cesaris took two second places: the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim and the season-closing South African Grand Prix at Kyalami, 9.319 seconds behind Riccardo Patrese. He came close to winning at Spa-Francorchamps, leading Alain Prost's Renault comfortably before a botched pit stop delayed him and a blown engine ended the race.
De Cesaris moved to Ligier in 1984, scoring only three points despite a promising Renault turbo engine. At the end of the season he also drove in the 1984 Australian Grand Prix — the last domestic Australian Grand Prix before the race joined the World Championship in 1985 — in a Ford BDA-powered Ralt RT4. Starting nearly a lap behind due to a pit exit delay on the warm-up lap, he fought back to finish third behind Roberto Moreno and Keke Rosberg, a drive widely regarded as one of the day's best.
In 1985 a quadruple mid-air rollover at the Austrian Grand Prix destroyed his car. Team boss Guy Ligier fired him, stating "I can no longer afford to employ this man" despite Marlboro paying the bulk of de Cesaris' salary. He was replaced by Philippe Streiff.
In 1986 de Cesaris moved to Minardi, where he was often outpaced by F1 rookie teammate Alessandro Nannini. For the first time in his career he went a full season without a point, retiring from every race bar two.
In 1987 he switched to Brabham-BMW. He recorded 14 DNFs in 16 races but did take third at the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa behind Alain Prost and Stefan Johansson — his first podium in nearly two years. He would not finish another race that season. No driver has ever recorded more than his 14 DNFs in a 16-race season.
For 1988, with Brabham having withdrawn from Formula One, de Cesaris joined the new Rial team run by Günter Schmid, former boss of the ATS outfit, using a Cosworth engine. He qualified for all sixteen races and finished fourth in the Detroit Grand Prix. He twice ran out of fuel in the final laps while running in the points, in Canada and Australia.
De Cesaris joined the Marlboro-sponsored Scuderia Italia squad for 1989. At Monaco he was heading for a podium before being taken out by triple world champion Nelson Piquet at the Loews Hairpin; he berated Piquet's Lotus team upon returning to the pits. Two races later he ran his Dallara teammate Alex Caffi into the wall while being lapped, costing the team a potential podium. He then finished third in Canada behind Williams drivers Thierry Boutsen and Riccardo Patrese in a rain-soaked race — the last time de Cesaris stood on a Formula One podium.
In 1990 he was involved in several incidents, including crashing out at the start at Interlagos and at Imola. He also nearly collected the Ferrari of Nigel Mansell while being lapped, prompting BBC commentator James Hunt — the 1976 World Champion — to call him an idiot on live television.
De Cesaris was signed by Eddie Jordan for his team's first Formula One season in 1991; Jordan had previously run de Cesaris in Formula 3. After a poor start in Phoenix, de Cesaris recovered his form: he finished fourth in Canada and fourth again in Mexico, then sixth in France and fifth in Germany.
At the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa, under pressure from debutant teammate Michael Schumacher, de Cesaris moved through the field to second before his Ford HB V8 failed. A communication problem between Ford and the Jordan team meant the oil tank was too small to service a new piston ring design requiring more lubricant. He finished the season ninth in the championship, his best result since 1983.
Financial realities — specifically a clash between de Cesaris' Marlboro backing and Jordan's new Barclay Cigarettes sponsorship — prevented Eddie Jordan from retaining him. Ken Tyrrell hired him for 1992. De Cesaris scored points four times, his best result a fourth place at the Japanese Grand Prix.
For 1993 the Ilmor engine was replaced by a Yamaha V10, and mid-season the Tyrrell 020 gave way to the Tyrrell 021 with active suspension — not a success. De Cesaris failed to score a point and left the team at the end of the year.
De Cesaris began 1994 without a drive but returned to Jordan when Eddie Irvine was banned for three races following an incident at the Brazilian Grand Prix. After crashing at Imola due to poor fitness from six months without racing, he took fourth at Monaco. Sauber then signed him to replace the injured Karl Wendlinger in their Mercedes-powered cars.
His first race for Sauber was his 200th Grand Prix, in Canada. He scored his final points at the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours. His Formula One career ended with throttle problems at the 1994 European Grand Prix; JJ Lehto replaced him for the final two rounds.
De Cesaris participated in 214 Grands Prix with 208 starts, achieving five podiums, one pole position and 59 championship points. He holds records for the most consecutive non-finishes (18 from 1985 to 1986), the most successive non-finishes in a single season (12 in 1987), and the most DNFs in a 16-race season (14 in 1987). He scored points for nine of the ten teams he raced for — McLaren, Alfa Romeo, Brabham, Rial, Tyrrell, Jordan, Ligier, Scuderia Italia and Sauber — failing only with Minardi.
After retiring from motor racing de Cesaris became a currency broker in Monte Carlo, reportedly spending six months a year at work and the remainder windsurfing in Hawaii, Mexico and elsewhere. He returned to competitive driving in the Grand Prix Masters series for retired Formula One drivers, setting the fastest time in the first test at the Silverstone South circuit in 2005 and finishing fourth in the inaugural race at Kyalami after a fierce battle with Derek Warwick.
De Cesaris was killed on 5 October 2014, aged 55, after losing control of his Suzuki motorcycle on Rome's Grande Raccordo Anulare motorway and colliding with the guard rail near the Bufalotta turn-off.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
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