Elio de Angelis

Elio de Angelis (26 March 1958 – 15 May 1986) was a racing driver who participated in Formula One between 1979 and 1986, racing for the Shadow, Lotus and Brabham teams. He was killed during testing at the Paul Ricard circuit at Le Castellet in 1986. He is sometimes referred to as Formula One's "last gentleman player," and although he was probably not the most talented driver ever, he was certainly among the most popular.

Career

De Angelis was born in Rome. His father Giulio was a notable offshore powerboat racer.

Having driven for Shadow in his debut F1 season in 1979, he switched to Lotus in 1980 and - at the age of 21 - nearly became the youngest Grand Prix winner of all time when he finished a tantalising second at the 1980 Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos. His first victory came in the 1982 Austrian GP at the Osterreichring, only 0.05 seconds ahead of Keke Rosberg.

De Angelis with Lotus in 1983.

He left Lotus at the end of the 1985 season when it became clear the team's efforts were being focused on his prodigiously-talented team-mate Ayrton Senna. De Angelis' replacement in the team was Johnny Dumfries, who owed his place almost entirely to the fact that he would accept being subordinate to Senna (Senna would not tolerate the much more competitive Derek Warwick as a co-driver) and that Dumfries came from a rich Scottish family. De Angelis' drive for 1986 was with Brabham - another famous name now disappeared - as a replacement for twice World Champion Nelson Piquet (Piquet had left for the Williams team because Brabham boss Bernie Ecclestone would not match his salary demands).

Cover of an Italian magazine about De Angelis' death (Addio Elio meaning "Farewell, Elio").

The 1986 Brabham-BMW, the BT55, was a radically-designed car, with a very low cross section. However, it was not effective and could not arrest Brabham's swift decline. It quickly became clear that 1986 would not be the year the team recaptured its glory days of the early 1980s. Nevertheless, de Angelis pushed his hardest to help develop the car. During tests at the Paul Ricard circuit in France, the rear wing of the BT55 came off at high speed, making the car lose downforce on the rear wheels, cartwheel over a barrier and catch fire. The impact did not kill de Angelis but, tragically, he could not get out of the car unassisted. The situation was exacerbated by the lack of marshals on the French circuit, or indeed anyone who could have assisted. A 30 minute delay ensued before an emergency helicopter arrived. De Angelis died 29 hours later in the hospital in Marseille to which he had been taken, from injuries caused by the smoke inhaled during the accident. His only other injuries were a broken collar bone and light burns on his back.

At Silverstone in 1981.

De Angelis was the last driver to die in an F1 car until Roland Ratzenberger at Imola eight years later. His place in the Brabham team was taken by Derek Warwick - allegedly because Warwick was the only unemployed F1 driver who did not contact Ecclestone immediately afterwards asking about the drive.

As well as his considerable skill as a driver, de Angelis was also concert-standard pianist who famously once kept the drivers entertained for an entire evening in the midst of the 1982 drivers' strike.

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	WDC	Pts
1979	Interscope Shadow Racing Team	Shadow DN9	Ford	ARG 7	BRA 12	RSA Ret	USW 7	ESP Ret	BEL Ret	MON DNQ	FRA 16	GBR 12	GER 11	AUT Ret	NED Ret	ITA Ret	CAN Ret	USA 4		15th	3
1980	Team Essex Lotus	Lotus 81	Ford	ARG Ret	BRA 2	RSA Ret	USW Ret	BEL 10	MON 9	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER 16	AUT 6	NED Ret	ITA 4	CAN 10	USA 4			7th	13
1981	Team Essex Lotus	Lotus 81	Ford	USW Ret	BRA 5	ARG 6	SMR	BEL 5												8th	14
		Lotus 87	Ford						MON Ret
	John Player Team Lotus	Lotus 87	Ford							ESP 5	FRA 6	GBR Ret	GER 7	AUT 7	NED 5	ITA 4	CAN 6	LVS Ret
1982	John Player Team Lotus	Lotus 87B	Ford	RSA 8																9th	24
		Lotus 91	Ford		BRA Ret	USW 5	SMR	BEL 4	MON 5	USE Ret	CAN 4	NED Ret	GBR 4	FRA Ret	GER Ret	AUT 1	SUI 6	ITA Ret	LVS Ret
1983	John Player Team Lotus	Lotus 93T	Renault	BRA DSQ	USW Ret	FRA Ret	SMR Ret	MON Ret	BEL 9	USE Ret	CAN Ret									17th	2
		Lotus 94T	Renault									GBR Ret	GER Ret	AUT Ret	NED Ret	ITA 5	EUR Ret	RSA Ret
1984	John Player Team Lotus	Lotus 95T	Renault	BRA 3	RSA 7	BEL 5	SMR 3	FRA 5	MON 5	CAN 4	USE 2	USA 3	GBR 4	GER Ret	AUT Ret	NED 4	ITA Ret	EUR Ret	POR 5	3rd	34
1985	John Player Special Team Lotus	Lotus 97T	Renault	BRA 3	POR 4	SMR 1	MON 3	CAN 5	USA 5	FRA 5	GBR NC	GER Ret	AUT 5	NED 5	ITA 6	BEL Ret	EUR 5	RSA Ret	AUS DSQ	5th	33
1986	Motor Racing Developments	Brabham BT55	BMW	BRA 8	ESP Ret	SMR Ret	MON Ret	BEL	CAN	USA	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	AUT	ITA	POR	MEX	AUS	25th	0

Sporting positions
Preceded by Riccardo Patrese	Italian Formula Three Champion 1977	Succeeded by Siegfried Stohr
Preceded by Riccardo Paletti	Formula One fatal accidents May 15, 1986	Succeeded by Roland Ratzenberger