Andrea de Cesaris Trivia Quiz

Answer: 1

De Cesaris had made his Formula One debut in 1980 for the Alfa Romeo squad, before his Marlboro connections bought him a ride at McLaren in 1981. His wild reputation was cemented in these early years, as he failed to finish six out of 14 races in his first full season due to his wild antics.

He was shown the door by McLaren at the end of the season after only scoring one points thanks to a 6th place at Imola.

Answer: Monaco

In a race of high attrition, de Cesaris scored his first Formula One podium with a third place at Monaco, but could have won the race had he not run out of fuel. He also took his first pole position at Long Beach earlier in the year, but further dented his reputation by crashing while in the lead.

Answer: 15

In de Cesaris' best season to date, he scored two excellent second places in Germany and South Africa. In fact, de Cesaris proved his reputation was not entirely fair with numerous excellent performances, and if not for awful unreliability, may have won at Spa-Francorchamps had his car not failed with the Italian well out in the lead. de Cesaris eventually ended the year 8th overall with 15 points.

Answer: 3

Despite being equipped with powerful Renault turbo engines, de Cesaris could not muster up the results of his 1983 season, despite several promising drives. A 5th in South Africa and a 6th at Imola were the only notable results of 1983 for de Ceasris.

Answer: Osterreichring

de Cesaris scored a brilliant fourth at Monaco early in the season, but from then on results tailed off as the Ligier was woefully uncompetitive. At the Austrian Grand Prix, de Cesaris crashed out, with his car digging into an earth bank and the car tipping end over end. After the next Grand Prix in Holland, de Cesaris was sacked.

Answer: Alessandro Nannini

Looking to rebuild his career and reputation after his mid-season sacking, de Cesaris used his connections to pay for his ride at Minardi. But for the first time in his career he failed to score a point as he suffered in woefully uncompetitive machinery, the Motori Moderni unreliable and the Minardi chassis heavy and slow. To make matters worse, Nannini more often than not out-performed de Cesaris despite both drivers only finishing one race all year!

Answer: Belgian

de Cesaris never managed to see a chequered flag in 1987, despite being classified in third at the Belgian Grand Prix and eighth at the Australian Grand Prix. More often than not, the extremely powerful BMW engine would grenade itself during the race but de Cesaris often proved his raw speed with a number of competitive drives before retiring.

Answer: Ford

Continuing an upward trend in performance, de Cesaris often put his little Rial far higher up the grid than the car deserved, and his real highlight of the season was a tremendous fourth place at the USGP. But for 1989 de Cesaris was on to pastures new again...

Answer: Nelson Piquet

At a track he always excelled, de Cesaris was looking good for third place until he was cut-up by the Lotus of Nelson Piquet at Loews Hairpin. Andrea waved and gesticulated wildly at the Brazilian, while continuing his rage at the mechanics when he returned to the pits.

However, it wasn't all bad news for de Cesaris, with the Italian taking third place at the Canadian Grand Prix, his last podium in his career.

Answer: 2

After a sterling 1989, de Cesaris came back to earth with a thud for 1990. The Dallara was now long in the tooth, and with the midfield ultra-competitive, the car's reliability and poor performance saw the Dallara's drop down the field. He failed to score a point, with only two finishes all season, a 10th place in Italy his best results.

It was so bad at times that de Cesaris even failed to qualify in Germany and he left the team at season's end.

Answer: 9

Joining the new Jordan Grand Prix for 1991, the car and driver combination were immediately competitive. The Italian produced a strong performance at Monaco, running in the points until his throttle cable snapped, but he then backed up that performance with two brilliant four places in Canada and Mexico, the sleek and agile Jordan chassis working on two completely different circuits.

A sixth place in France and a fifth place in Germany were allied to numerous other performances, including an emotional, heartbreaking retirement at the Belgian Grand Prix, where de Cesaris was in a wonderful second place and looking on course for perhaps a victory when his engine blew while he was catching Senna's McLaren.

Answer: 4th

Forced to leave Jordan at the end of 1991 due to financial issues, Ken Tyrrell was quick to snap up de Cesaris for 1992, the Italian's money coming in handy plus the fact de Cesaris was now quite the respected veteran. He repaid Tyrrell's faith with more excellent performances, with points coming in Mexico, Canada, Italy and an excellent fourth in Japan, giving the Italian 8 points in the Championship.

Answer: Yamaha

After a competitive 1992 season with V10 Ilmors, that cost money, Tyrrell snapped up free Yamaha engines for 1993. But de Cesaris and Katayama could do little with the new engines, and with the onset of the electronic age, the combination was uncompetitive and de Cesaris was left to rue another pointless season.

Answer: Monaco

It was bound to be Monaco. Having been left without a seat pre-season, de Cesaris was drafted in to replace Eddie Irvine by Jordan Grand Prix after the Irishman was banned for three races. At Monaco, the Italian again excelled and finished a superb fourth. With Wendlinger injured, de Cesaris then moved to the Sauber team and finished sixth in France but the Italian's last Grand Prix, his 214th and last, was at the European Grand Prix.

Answer: Grand Prix Masters

Having left Formula One well behind at the end of 1994, de Cesaris made a success as a currency broker in Monte-Carlo while also spending six months of the year windsurfing around the globe. He returned to the F1 paddock at the 2005 Monaco Grand Prix, and he returned to racing in Kyalami for the Grand Prix Masters, and finished a competitive fourth, proving he still had plenty of speed with his right foot.