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Elio de Angelis | |
|---|---|
 De Angelis at the1982 Dutch Grand Prix | |
| Born | (1958-03-26)26 March 1958 Rome, Italy |
| Died | 15 May 1986(1986-05-15) (aged 28) Marseille, France |
| Cause of death | Asphyxiation after a collision whilst testing the Brabham BT55 |
| Partners | Ute Kittelberger [de] (1981–1986; his death) |
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| Nationality |  Italian |
| Active years | 1979–1986 |
| Teams | Shadow,Lotus,Brabham |
| Entries | 110 (108 starts) |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 2 |
| Podiums | 9 |
| Careerpoints | 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 |
Elio de Angelis (26 March 1958 – 15 May 1986) was an Italianracing driver, who competed inFormula One from1979 to1986.
In Formula One, De Angelis drove forShadow,Lotus andBrabham, winning two Grands Prix across eight seasons. He finished third in the1984 World Drivers' Championship with Lotus. De Angelis was a competitive and highly popular presence in Formula One during the 1980s, and is sometimes referred to as Formula One's "last gentleman player".[1]
In May 1986, de Angelis was killed in an accident whilst testing theBrabham BT55 atPaul Ricard.
De Angelis was born inRome. His father Giulio was a wealthy real estate developer and an inshore and offshore powerboat racer who won many world championships in the 1960s and 1970s.
After a brief spell with karts, de Angelis went on to win theItalian Formula Three Championship in 1977. In 1978 he raced inFormula Two forMinardi and then for the ICI British F2 Team, he also competed in one round of theBritish Formula One championship and won the prestigiousMonaco F3 race.
At the end of the 1977 season, 19 year old de Angelis was onEnzo Ferrari's short list to replaceNiki Lauda. De Angelis successfully tested the Ferrari atFiorano Circuit but eventually Ferrari decided to hireGilles Villeneuve.[2] De Angelis's debut Formula One season was in1979 withShadow. He finished seventh in his maiden Grand Prix inArgentina and 15th in the championship with three points.
De Angelis's performance with Shadow caught the eye ofLotus bossColin Chapman, who hired him to partnerMario Andretti in1980. At the age of 21, de Angelis became the youngest Grand Prix podium finisher of all time when he finished second at theBrazilian Grand Prix, run at theInterlagos circuit.
His first victory came in the1982 Austrian Grand Prix at theÖsterreichring, 0.05 seconds ahead of theWilliams of eventual1982 World ChampionKeke Rosberg. The win was the last hailed byColin Chapman's act of throwing his cloth cap into the air. Chapman died in December that year andPeter Warr became the new Lotus team manager.
In1983, Lotus switched from theCosworth DFV they had been using since1967, toRenault F1 turbo engines, but it was a disappointing season, suffering multiple mechanical failures. De Angelis's best result was a fifth place in the1983 Italian Grand Prix.
In1984, de Angelis had a much better season, scoring a total of 34 points and finishing third in the standings with three podiums. His best result was a second place at theDetroit Grand Prix. De Angelis was the only driver to finish in the top 5 in 1984 not to score a race win, showing his consistent performances throughout the season with the improving Lotus-Renault.
In1985, de Angelis was joined at Lotus byAyrton Senna, who had left theToleman team. De Angelis's second win came in the third race of the season, at the1985 San Marino Grand Prix, afterAlain Prost was disqualified when hisMcLaren MP4/2B was found 2 kg underweight. De Angelis also claimed his last Formula One pole position that year inCanada. He finished fifth in the championship, with 33 points, five points behind his teammate. However, de Angelis chose to leave Lotus at the end of the season, frustrated that the team's efforts were being focused mostly on Senna.
De Angelis's drive for1986 was withBrabham, as a replacement for twice World ChampionNelson Piquet, who had moved to Williams to join de Angelis's former Lotus teammateNigel Mansell. Fellow ItalianRiccardo Patrese was his teammate. Patrese was returning to theBernie Ecclestone owned team after two unhappy years withAlfa Romeo.
The 1986 Brabham-BMW, the BT55, was the brainchild of long time Brabham designerGordon Murray. The BT55 was a lowline car with a reduced frontal area, the idea being to have a cleaner airflow over the car to create more downforce, while at the same time reducing the car's drag. The chassis proved effective, unlike theI4BMW turbo that had to be tilted to an angle of 72°. This caused severe oil surge and an even greater lack of throttle response than the BMW had become famous for. Although the team worked hard to overcome these problems, it was clear from early in the season that Brabham had fallen behind the leading pack.
In May 1986, during tests at the Paul Ricard circuit in France, the rear wing of de Angelis's BT55 detached at high speed[3] resulting in the car losing downforce on the rear wheels, which instigated a cartwheel over a crash barrier, 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 inMarseille where he had been taken, from smoke inhalation. His actual crash impact injuries were only a brokencollar bone and light burns on his back.
De Angelis's death also saw the end of Formula One using the full 5.812 km (3.612 mi) Paul Ricard Circuit. F1 cars started using the 3.812 km (2.369 mi) "Club" version of the circuit, bypassing the Verriere curves where the Brabham had crashed, and cutting the length of the Mistral Straight from 1.8 to 1 km in length. The move was unpopular with many of the drivers, although others did like the reduced straight length as it was easier on the engines. Paul Ricard would not host a race on the full layout until2018, which featured sharper Verriere curves and a chicane on Mistral effectively cutting the straight to two 800m straights.
De Angelis's place in the Brabham team was subsequently taken byDerek Warwick, allegedly because Warwick was the only available top level driver who did not contact team owner Bernie Ecclestone immediately after de Angelis's death asking to replace him.McLaren driverKeke Rosberg, who was a close friend of de Angelis, retired at the end of the 1986 season.[4]
De Angelis was the last driver to die in a Formula One car untilRoland Ratzenberger died during qualifying for theSan Marino Grand Prix atImola eight years later. The day after Ratzenberger's death, de Angelis's former Lotus teammate and three times World ChampionAyrton Senna died frominjuries sustained in a crash on the seventh lap when hisWilliams-Renault crashed into the Tamburello Curve wall at approximately 130 mph (209 km/h).
De Angelis was a concert-standard pianist, and famously kept his fellow Formula One drivers entertained with his skills by playing multiple concertos byChopin andMozart, while they locked themselves in aJohannesburg hotel before the1982 South African Grand Prix atKyalami when theGrand Prix Drivers Association held a strike in protest at the newSuper Licence conditions imposed by the governing body, theFIA.
The French-Italian driverJean Alesi, who broke into the sport in1989, wore a helmet that matched de Angelis's design, in tribute to his semi-compatriot.
In 2017 de Angelis was honoured at theLudovico Scarfiotti Memorial inRome.[5]
| Season | Series | Team | Races | Wins | Poles | F/Laps | Podiums | Points | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | Italian Formula Three | Trivellato Racing | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | 1st |
| European Formula Three | Valtellina Racing | 14 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 18 | 7th | |
| 1978 | European Formula Two | Chevron Racing | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 14th |
| 1979 | Formula One | InterscopeShadow Racing | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 15th |
| BMW M1 Procar Championship | BMW Italia | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 20 | 13th | |
| 1980 | Formula One | Team Essex Lotus | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 7th |
| 1981 | Formula One | Team Essex Lotus | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 8th |
| John PlayerTeam Lotus | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| 1982 | Formula One | John PlayerTeam Lotus | 15 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 23 | 9th |
| 1983 | Formula One | John Player SpecialTeam Lotus | 15 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 17th |
| 1984 | Formula One | John Player SpecialTeam Lotus | 16 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 34 | 3rd |
| 1985 | Formula One | John Player SpecialTeam Lotus | 16 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 33 | 5th |
| 1986 | Formula One | Olivetti Brabham | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
Source:[6] | |||||||||
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position)
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Italian Formula Three Champion 1977 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Monaco Formula Three Winner 1978 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Formula One fatal accidents 15 May 1986 | Succeeded by |
| Records | ||
| Preceded by | Youngest driver to score a podium position in Formula One 21 years, 307 days (1980 Brazilian Grand Prix) | Succeeded by |
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