Photo Credit: Martin Lee via Flickr – Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
In Formula 1, speed is everything. But reliability? That is survival.
For every record breaking lap or podium finish or other good stat, there is also a darker statistic that haunts drivers, which is DNF.
Some DNF come from crashes, others from mechanical betrayal, and for a select few drivers, the letters DNF seemed tattooed onto their careers.
These men were not necessarily slow or careless, in fact many were brilliant.
Lets dive into the turbulent stories of F1 most retirement-prone drivers and discover how greatness sometimes arrives hand in hand with heartbreaking.
Riccardo Patrese (147 DNFs)
He drove for 17 seasons in Formula 1, competed in more races than almost anyone of his time.
And yet he holds the unfortunate crown of the most DNFs in F1 history.
147 – That is not a type, out of 256 starts, he failed to finish over half of them, that is a retirement rate of nearly 57%, a stunning number for a man who was anything but mediocre.
So, what happened?
The Italian Vetteran raced during some of F1’s most dangerous and unreliable decades of F1.
He endured engine failures and gearbox meltdowns, suspension collapses – you name it.
He also switched teams often and not always to the most dependable outfits, and yet he was so slouch, Patrese claimed six wins and 37 podiums and even finished runner-up in 1992 season, behind his team-mate Nigel Mansell.
Andrea de Cesaris – (≈148 DNFs)
No name in Formula 1 evokes the chaos of DNFs quite like Andrea de Cesaris.
With 208 races in his career, he was often fast, frighteningly fast, but he was also unpredictable and his cars seemed to explode, fall apart or crash out at alarming rates.
He holds the highest DNF percentage in F1 history, over 70%
He famously:
- Retired from 18 consecutive races between 1985 and 1986 (many of them mechanical failures)
- Suffered 14 DNFs in a single season (1987)
That’s not misfortune, it’s a full-blown curse.
Despite the chaos, de Cesaris was deeply respected. Teammates praised his development skills, and he nearly won a few Grands Prix. But the constant mechanical breakdowns, and the occasional crash, overshadowed his potential.
He left the sport without a win. But with a reputation no one else could match: the most DNFs in F1 history.
Michele Alboreto (102 retirements)
Another Italian name and another Ferrari man, another name cursed by DNFs.
Alboreto recorded 102 retirements out of 194 starts in his career, giving him a DNF rate of around 53%.
Alboreto’s rise was steep, he won races, climbed podiums, and in 1985, challenged for the world championship with Ferrari. But that year also signaled the start of an all-too-familiar pattern: cars failing beneath him.
Mechanical failures, suspension and gearbox problems, and as the years wore on his career faded, not because he lacked talent but because he simply couldn’t finish races.
He was a great driver, very fast when car allowed it, but history will always remember how often it did not.
Nigel Mansell – (92 DNFs)
A champion, who won 31 races in his career, despite 92 DNFs, and winning so many races, you have to be one of the best.
But Mansell also racked up a jaw-dropping 92 DNFs across 187 starts. Nearly half of the time, he didn’t make it to the chequered flag.
Some of this was down to how hard he pushed his machinery, Mansell drove like every lap was a war, and sometimes his cars couldn’t keep up, other times, it was sheer bad luck: tires exploding, engines quitting, electronics frying mid-race.
We remember him as aggressive driver, legends know it, kind of driver who gambled with fate every Sunday, and did not always walk away unscathed.
Gerhard Berger – (95 DNFs)
Austrian driver Gerhard Berger was quick, brave, and devastatingly underrated, he drove for Ferrari and McLaren, won 10 races, and stood on 48 podiums.
And yet, he logged 95 DNFs, a figure that almost seems impossible given how consistent he looked on track.
Berger was the victim of late-1980s unreliability, especially during his Ferrari stint, where the cars were fast but fragile. Despite the setbacks, Berger soldiered on, often playing a supporting role to drivers like Senna and Prost.
His calm demeanor and dry humor masked a career that could have achieved much more, had his cars just held together.
Jean Alesi – (87 DNFs)
When Jean Alesi burst onto the F1 scene in 1989, fans saw something special—aggression, flair, and fearless racecraft. But Alesi’s career would come to be defined by something else entirely: heartbreak.
He is remembered as one of the best rookies in history of F1.
With 87 DNFs in 201 races, Alesi’s journey became a tale of “what could have been.”
He spent more time of his career driving for Ferrari, through a period plagued by poor strategy, not competitive car and had many mechanical retirements, he won just one race, yet he had the talent for many more!
Alesi’s DNFs weren’t just statistics, they were emotional gut-punches for a driver who wore his heart on his sleeve, and for fans who believed he deserved so much more.
Jarno Trulli – (90 DNFs)
We remember him as the master of qualifying, on Saturdays he was lightning quick.
But on Sunday, things often fell apart, he suffered 90 DNFs in his career (about 36%) was not the highest, it was frustrating because it usually came from such promising starts.
Wether he was at Renault, Toyota or Lotus, the result was too often the same, speed with no reward.
His lone victory at Monaco in 2004 is still remembered fondly, but it also remains a lone bright spot in a career dimmed by reliability demons.
Why Do DNFs Happen?
DNFs can be:
- Mechanical – engine, gearbox, suspension failures
- Driver error – crashes or spins
- Team mistakes – botched pit stops, tire failures
- External incidents – contact from other drivers, debris damage
Back in the 1980s and 1990s, mechanical DNFs were far more common. Technology was still evolving, and safety often came second to speed. Drivers could lose a race due to a simple fuel pump malfunction or a failed throttle cable.
Today, cars are far more reliable. But even now, the specter of DNF never fully disappears.
What can we say more?
These drivers weren’t slow. Many were heroes. Some even became champions. But their legacies are woven with stories of smoke pouring from an engine, of dashboards going black, of races that ended before they even truly began.
And yet, they kept coming back.
Because that’s what racing drivers do. Even with 147 DNFs behind them, even after a string of retirements, even knowing the odds, they lined up again, engine roaring, heart pounding, chasing the dream.
Because one day, maybe, they would finish. And maybe that finish would be a win.
