Born April 17, 1954 in Padua, Italy, Riccardo Patrese is a former racing driver who raced in Formula One from 1977 to 1993. Patrese became the first Formula One driver to achieve over 200 Grand Prix starts when he made an appearance at the 1990 British Grand Prix, and the first to accomplish 250 starts at the 1993 German Grand Prix.

All together, Patrese entered in 257 F1 World Championship Grand Prix races, and started 256, making him the second most experienced F1 driver, behind Rubens Barrichello.

Patrese made his racing debut in 1977 with the Shadow Racing team at the Monaco Grand Prix. He received the nod after the team was forced to switch drivers in the middle of the season. Later that year, Jackie Oliver took Patrese with him when he left Shadow to form the Arrows team.

Shadows sued Arrows, and after a court decision in Shadows favor, Arrows was forced to redesign their car. 1978 started as a decent year for Patrese, who was leading the South African Grand Prix until engine failure forced him out with only 15 laps to go.

Patrese was involved in a pile-up later that year during the Italian Grand Prix, the results of which left fellow F1 driver, Ronnie Peterson, dead due to complications the following day. Patrese was never officially blamed for the race, but James Hunt, an upset F1 driver also involved in the pile-up, campaigned and ultimately had Patrese banned for a race.

After television replays showed that it was Hunt responsible and not Patrese, he was reinstated and forgiven of any wrong doings. Hunt never admitted any fault, and went on to heavily criticize Patrese, even as a broadcaster for BBC TV.

Patrese moved to Brabham and earned his first career win in 1982 at Monaco Grand Prix. A second win would come the following year at the South African Grand Prix, and Patrese was leading another race at San Marino, but crashed out of the race with a few laps left.

Patrese was overshadowed by his teammate Nelson Piquet, who claimed his second Drivers' Championship title that year, with Patrese finishing a distant 9th. Seven years would pass before Patrese climbed to the top step of the podium.

During the mid 80s, Patrese bounced from Brabham to Alfa Romeo and back again. With sporadic minor successes through the years, Patrese was given the chance by Williams to revamp his declining career in 1987. Patrese was brought in to replace an injured Nigel Mansell in the Australian Grand Prix.

Patrese showed promise on the track, and he was hired in 1988 as Nelson Piquet's replacement. In 1991, Nigel Mansell returned to Williams and he and Patrese solidified Williams' spot as legitimate contenders. Winning twice (Mexico, Portugal) gave Patrese his most successful season ever, and he finished in 3rd place behind Mansell and Ayrton Senna.

Troubles with teammates forced Patrese to retire in 1994, thus ending the longest career in F1 history. In 2005, Patrese returned to race against other retired drivers and placed 3rd in the race, finishing behind Mansell and Emerson Fittipaldi. For his career, Patrese earned 6 wins, 37 podium visits, 8 pole positions, and ran 257 races.