Riccardo Gabriele Patrese (born 17 April 1954) is an Italian former racing driver, who raced in Formula One from 1977 to 1993. For 19 years, he held the record for the most Grand Prix starts. He became the first Formula One driver to achieve 200 Grand Prix starts when he appeared at the 1990 British Grand Prix, and the first to achieve 250 starts at the 1993 German Grand Prix. Patrese entered 257 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix and started 256 races making him the seventh most experienced F1 driver in history, after Rubens Barrichello, Michael Schumacher, Jenson Button, Fernando Alonso, Kimi Räikkönen and Felipe Massa. He was runner-up in the 1992 Formula One season and third in 1989 and 1991. He won six Formula One races, with a record gap of over six years between two of these – the 1983 South African Grand Prix and 1990 San Marino Grand Prix. Patrese also competed at the World Sportscar Championship for the Lancia factory team, finishing runner-up in 1982 and collecting eight wins.

Early life and career

Born in Padua, Veneto, Patrese started driving karts at age 9. Growing up near the Italian Alps, he was also selected for the Italian national ski team as a teenager, and was in addition a competitive swimmer. In 1974, he won the Karting World Championship at the Estoril circuit, finishing ahead of second-placed teammate and fellow future F1 driver Eddie Cheever.