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Close, but no cigar
Steven LynchOctober 17, 2014
I was sorry to read of the death of Andrea de Cesaris. The obituaries said he entered 214 Grands Prix but never won one - is this a record? asked Sam Henderson
It was indeed sad to learn of the death of the Italian driver Andrea de Cesaris, after a motorcycle accident in Rome in October.
De Cesaris started 208 of those 214 Grands Prix, in a long career in which he drove for no fewer than 10 different teams. He never did win one, but finished on the podium five times. His best results were a pair of second places in 1983 - in Germany and South Africa - when he was driving for Alfa-Romeo.
No one has started more races without ever winning one: Nick Heidfeld is next with 183, then come the British pair of Martin Brundle (158) and Derek Warwick (147).
Adrian Sutil is the highest current driver on this list: the Japanese Grand Prix was his 124th, without a win yet.
The others to have started more than 100 Grands Prix without ever winning one are Jean-Pierre Jarier (134), Eddie Cheever (132), Pierluigi Martini (119), Philippe Alliot (109) and Mika Salo (109).
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