| Born | 26 March 1958 |
|---|---|
| Died | 15 May 1986 (aged 28) |
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Active years | 1979 – 1986 |
| Teams | Shadow, Lotus, Brabham |
| Races | 109 (108 starts) |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 2 |
| Podiums | 9 |
| Career points | 122 |
| Pole positions | 3 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| First race | 1979 Argentine Grand Prix |
| First win | 1982 Austrian Grand Prix |
| Last win | 1985 San Marino Grand Prix |
| Last race | 1986 Monaco Grand Prix |
| British Formula One Series 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".[1]
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De Angelis was born in Rome. His father Giulio was a notable inshore and offshore motorboat racer.
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.
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 his BT55 detached at high speed [2] 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.
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Riccardo Patrese |
Italian Formula Three Champion 1977 |
Succeeded by Siegfried Stohr |
| Preceded by Didier Pironi |
Monaco Formula Three Race Winner 1978 |
Succeeded by Alain Prost |
| Preceded by Riccardo Paletti |
Formula One fatal accidents May 15, 1986 |
Succeeded by Roland Ratzenberger |
| Records | ||
| Preceded by Bruce McLaren 21 years, 322 days (1959 British GP) |
Youngest Driver to score a Podium Position in Formula One 21 years, 307 days (1980 Brazilian Grand Prix) |
Succeeded by Ralf Schumacher 21 years, 287 days (1997 Argentine GP) |