Most F1 Retirements

Andrea de Cesaris leads on 135 retirements, ahead of Riccardo Patrese on 130 retirements.

Record holder

135retirements

Most F1 Retirements
#	Driver	Retirements
1st	Andrea de Cesaris	135
2nd	Riccardo Patrese	130
=3rd	Michele Alboreto	92
=3rd	Rubens Barrichello	92
=5th	Gerhard Berger	86
=5th	Nigel Mansell	86
=7th	Jacques Laffite	82
=7th	Jean Alesi	82
9th	Jarno Trulli	81
=10th	Derek Warwick	80
=10th	Nelson Piquet	80
12th	Fernando Alonso	79
13th	Eddie Cheever	77
=14th	David Coulthard	76
=14th	Niki Lauda	76
16th	Graham Hill	74
17th	Jean-Pierre Jarier	71
18th	Johnny Herbert	70
=19th	Giancarlo Fisichella	67
=19th	Martin Brundle	67
=19th	René Arnoux	67
22nd	Kimi Räikkönen	66
=23rd	Mario Andretti	65
=23rd	Thierry Boutsen	65
=25th	Ivan Capelli	64
=25th	Michael Schumacher	64
=25th	Philippe Alliot	64
=25th	Pierluigi Martini	64

How this is measured

Counts races the driver started but did not finish, as the source marks them (retired). Disqualifications are not retirements, and entries that never took the start are not counted at all. The source does not reliably separate mechanical failures from accidents and spins across eras, so this is a count of races not finished, not of breakdowns. Long careers in unreliable eras dominate: more starts mean more chances to retire.

A start is a race entry that took the start. Entries recorded as did not qualify, did not pre-qualify, failed the 107% rule, or withdrew are excluded.
The 1950–1960 Indianapolis 500 rounds counted towards the world championship but were run to American rules with roughly 33-car grids and almost no overlap in entrants. They are excluded from every leaderboard on this site.
The current season is included, so these figures change after every Grand Prix.