Elio de Angelis

Elio de Angelis

Born	(1958-03-26)26 March 1958
Died	15 May 1986(1986-05-15) (aged 28)
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Italian
Active years	1979 – 1986
Teams	Shadow, Lotus, Brabham
Entries	109 (108 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	2
Podiums	9
Career points	122
Pole positions	3
Fastest laps	0
First entry	1979 Argentine Grand Prix
First win	1982 Austrian Grand Prix
Last win	1985 San Marino Grand Prix
Last entry	1986 Monaco Grand Prix
British Formula One Championship career
Active years	1978
Races	1
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podium finishes	1
Career points	12
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0

Elio de Angelis (26 March 1958 – 15 May 1986) was an Italian 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. Elio de Angelis was a competitive and highly popular presence during the Formula One circus of the 1980s, and is sometimes referred to as Formula One's "last gentleman player".

Career

De Angelis was born in Rome. His father Giulio was a notable inshore and offshore motorboat racer.

De Angelis driving for Lotus at the 1981 British Grand Prix.

After a brief spell with karts, he went on to win the Italian Formula Three Championship in 1977. In 1978 he raced in Formula 2 for Minardi and then for the ICI British F2 Team, he also competed in one round of the British Formula One championship and won the prestious Monaco F3 race.

His debut F1 season was in 1979 with Shadow. He finished 7th in his maiden Grand Prix in Argentina and closed 15th in the championship with 3 points. In 1980 he switched to Lotus 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 Grand Prix at the Osterreichring, only 0.05 seconds ahead of Keke Rosberg. The win was the last hailed by Colin Chapman's famous act of throwing his cloth cap into the air. Chapman died in December that year and Peter Warr became the new Lotus team manager.

In 1983 Lotus switched from Cosworth to Renault turbo engines but it was a disappointing season. De Angelis' best result was a fifth place in the 1983 Italian Grand Prix. In 1984 De Angelis had a much better season, scoring a total of 34 points and finishing third in the standings (his best result was a second place at the Detroit Grand Prix).

De Angelis' second win came in the 1985 San Marino Grand Prix. He finished 5th in the championship with 33 points but left Lotus at the end of the season when it became clear the team's efforts were being focused on his prodigiously talented new team-mate Ayrton Senna. De Angelis' drive for 1986 was with Brabham as a replacement for twice World Champion Nelson Piquet with Riccardo Patrese as team-mate.

De Angelis driving for Lotus at the 1985 German Grand Prix.

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.

Death and legacy

During tests at the Paul Ricard circuit in France, the rear wing of his BT55 detached at high speed resulting in the car losing downforce on the rear wheels, which instigated a cartwheel over a sidetrack barrier and causing the car to catch fire. The impact itself did not kill de Angelis but he was unable to extract himself from the car unassisted. The situation was exacerbated by the lack of track marshals on the circuit who could have provided him with emergency assistance. A 30 minute delay ensued before a helicopter arrived and De Angelis died 29 hours later, at the hospital in Marseille where he had been taken, from smoke inhalation. His actual crash impact injuries were only a broken collar bone and light burns on his back. The tragic circumstances of his death weighed heavily on the sport's conscience and radical changes were introduced by then President Jean-Marie Balestre in the months following his accident which ultimately heralded the end of the turbo powered era in Formula One racing.

De Angelis' place in the Brabham team was subsequently taken by Derek Warwick.

De Angelis was the last driver to die in an F1 car until Roland Ratzenberger at Imola eight years later. The French-Sicilian driver Jean Alesi - who broke into the sport three years after de Angelis died - wore a helmet that exactly matched de Angelis' design, in tribute to his semi-compatriot.

De Angelis was also a concert-standard pianist.

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	Cosworth V8	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	Cosworth V8	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	Cosworth V8	USW Ret	BRA 5	ARG 6	SMR WD	BEL 5												8th	14
		Lotus 87							MON Ret
	John Player Team Lotus									ESP 5	FRA 6	GBR DSQ	GER 7	AUT 7	NED 5	ITA 4	CAN 6	CPL Ret
1982	John Player Team Lotus	Lotus 87B	Cosworth V8	RSA 8																9th	23
		Lotus 91			BRA Ret	USW 5	SMR	BEL 4	MON 5	DET Ret	CAN 4	NED Ret	GBR 4	FRA Ret	GER Ret	AUT 1	SUI 6	ITA Ret	CPL Ret
1983	John Player Team Lotus	Lotus 91	Cosworth V8	BRA DSQ																17th	2
		Lotus 93T	Renault V6		USW Ret	FRA Ret	SMR Ret	MON Ret	BEL 9	DET Ret	CAN Ret
		Lotus 94T										GBR Ret	GER Ret	AUT Ret	NED Ret	ITA 5	EUR Ret	RSA Ret
1984	John Player Team Lotus	Lotus 95T	Renault V6	BRA 3	RSA 7	BEL 5	SMR 3	FRA 5	MON‡ 5	CAN 4	DET 2	DAL 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 V6	BRA 3	POR 4	SMR 1	MON 3	CAN 5	DET 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 Straight-4	BRA 8	ESP Ret	SMR Ret	MON Ret	BEL	CAN	DET	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	AUT	ITA	POR	MEX	AUS	NC	0

• ‡ Race was stopped with less than 75% of laps completed, half points awarded.

External links

• Elio de Angelis at Motorsport Memorial