- De Cesaris raced 208 times in a 14-year career between 1980 and 1994
- De Cesaris was 55 and death comes on same day Jules Bianchi was left fighting for his lift after crash at the Japanese Grand Prix
- McLaren tweet tribute to their former driver
Former Formula One driver Andrea De Cesaris has died following a motorbike accident on Rome’s ringroad, Italian media reported on Sunday.
De Cesaris, who was 55, raced for a host of teams including McLaren in 208 starts between 1980 and 1994 but never won a Grand Prix.
His death came on the day when French F1 driver Jules Bianchi suffered a severe head injury and was fighting for his life after hitting a recovery truck at the Japanese Grand Prix.
De Cesaris finished on the podium five times and in 1982, aged 22, became the then-youngest driver to start from the front of the grid after he took his sole career pole at the US West round.
He retired in 1994 having finished in the the top 10 of the driver’s championship three times – he was eighth with Alfa in 1982, ninth with Jordan in 1991 and ninth with Tyrrell the following year.
He later raced in the Grand Prix Masters series for two seasons in 2005 and 2006 alongside veterans such as Nigel Mansell, Emerson Fittipaldi and Ricardo Patres.