Elio de Angelis (born 26 March 1950 in Rome, Italy – died 15 May 1986 in Marseille, France) was an Italian driver who most notably drove for Lotus in Formula One.
Formula One Career
Pre-Formula One
1979
De Angelis made his Formula One debut at the start of the season, after being offered a contract from Shadow. He finished seventh in his first race and went on to complete the season with three points from his fourth place finish in the United States Grand Prix.
1980
De Angelis was then offered a position with Lotus for the 1980 season. At the Brazilian Grand Prix he almost became the youngest Grand Prix winner in history, finishing behind René Arnoux for a second place finish.
At the end of the season, he had scored 13 points. This placed him in 7th place for the World Driver's Championship.
1981
De Angelis' contract with Lotus was renewed for the 1981 season.
Midway through the season, team Lotus was purchased from Essex Petroleum, by the cigarette company, John Player. De Angelis' contract remained despite this change in ownership.
1982
Elio de Angelis (right) finishing just 0.05 seconds ahead of Keke Rosberg (left) in the 1982 Austrian Grand Prix.
De Angelis' first victory came during the 1982 season, in the Austrian Grand Prix. He had beat the Williams driver, Keke Rosberg by only 0.05 seconds (less than half a car length).
This was the last victory that the Lotus team manager, Colin Chapman would witness. He would die later that year of a heart attack at age 54.
1983
Following the death of team manager, Colin Chapman, the position of Lotus team manager was filled by Peter Warr. In addition, the team transferred to the Renault turbo-charged engine after the first race.
The season was full of various mechanical issues that forced him to retire to the garage in the majority of the races in the season. He was only able to complete 2 of 15 races that season.
1984
The 1984 season was much more successful than de Angelis' prior year.
Because of his consistency throughout the season, he managed to place 3rd in the drivers championship. He was the only driver in the top 5 that was unable to score a win that season.
1985
De Angelis continued his career with Lotus for the 1985 season, with his new teammate Ayrton Senna.
De Angelis claimed the second and last win of his career in the San Marino Grand Prix, after McLaren's Alain Prost was disqualified from the race because his car was underweight. De Angelis also claimed his final pole position in the Canadian Grand Prix.
He finished the season in 5th position, five points behind his teammate. De Angelis chose to leave Lotus at the end of the season because he believed the team's effort was focused on Senna.
1986
Elio de Angelis (right) and Riccardo Patrese (left)
De Angelis joined Brabham to replace Nelson Piquet who had moved to the Williams team. Fellow Italian driver, Riccardo Patrese joined de Angelis as his teammate.
De Angelis managed to complete the first race of the season, however he had to retire from his other three races that season because of various mechanical failures.
His career would come to a sudden end after his death during a team testing session in mid May.
Death
While testing for his team at the Paul Ricard circuit in France, de Angelis suffered a rear wing failure at the Verriere corner of the track. As a result, the car lost downforce and cartwheeled over a track barrier. The car caught fire, and de Angelis was unable to free himself from the wreck.
Rescue efforts were slow due to the low attendance of track marshals that provided emergency assistance, but de Angelis was eventually removed from the car. Thirty minutes after the accident, a helicopter arrived to airlift him to a hospital in Marseille. He arrived at the hospital with a broken collar bone, light burns and and suffering from smoke inhalation. He died 29 hours after arrival of fatal smoke inhalation and oxygen deprivation.
After the death of de Angelis, the FIA president Jean-Marie Balestre announced the end of the turbo powered engine. After pressure from FISA, he also announced the removal of the full Paul Ricard Circuit from the season calendar. It would be replaced with the "Club" version of the circuit, which bypassed the section of the track in which de Angelis was killed.
Helmet Design
Elio de Angelis' helmet without a sponsor.
De Angelis wore a white helmet with a black and red line that came up from the bottom of the helmet, directly behind the visor. The lines then formed a corner and looped around the back of the helmet to the opposite side. His name, Elio de Angelis was written in a cursive font on the black line. John Player was printed directly above the visor.
Throughout his career, a sponsor was printed onto the top of his helmet.
After his death, fellow Formula One driver, Jean Alesi wore a helmet which matched that of de Angelis as a tribute.
Formula One Statistical Overview
Formula One Record
| Year | Entrant | Team | WDC Points | WDC Pos. | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 |  Interscope Shadow Racing Team
|
Shadow-Ford Cosworth | 3 | 15th | Report |
| 1980 | Team Essex Lotus
|
Lotus-Cosworth | 13 | 7th | Report |
| 1981 | Team Essex Lotus
|
Lotus-Cosworth | 14 | 8th | Report |
| John Player Team Lotus
| |||||
| 1982 | John Player Team Lotus
|
Lotus-Ford Cosworth | 23 | 9th | Report |
| 1983 | John Player Team Lotus
|
Lotus-Ford Cosworth | 2 | 17th | Report |
| Lotus-Renault | |||||
| 1984 | John Player Team Lotus
|
Lotus-Renault | 34 | 3rd | Report |
| 1985 | John Player Special Team Lotus
|
Lotus-Renault | 33 | 5th | Report |
| 1986 | Motor Racing Developments
|
Brabham-BMW | 0 | NC | Report |
Career Statistics
Template:Statbox
Race Wins
| Win Number | Grand Prix |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1982 Austrian Grand Prix |
| 2 | 1985 San Marino Grand Prix |
Career Results
| Complete Formula One Results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | Pts | Pos
Template:1979 Results/16 Template:1980 Results/16 Template:1981 Results/16 Template:1982 Results/16 Template:1983 Results/16 Template:1984 Results/16 Template:1985 Results/16 Template:1986 Results/16 | |||||||
| Key | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Symbol | Meaning | Symbol | Meaning | ||
| 1st | Winner | Ret | Retired | ||
| 2nd | Podium finish | DSQ | Disqualified | ||
| 3rd | DNQ | Did not qualify | |||
| 5th | Points finish | DNPQ | Did not pre-qualify | ||
| 14th | Non-points finish | TD | Test driver | ||
| Italics | Scored point(s) for Fastest Lap | DNS | Did not start | ||
| 18th† | Classified finish (retired with >90% race distance) | NC | Non-classified finish (<90% race distance) | ||
| 4thP | Qualified for pole position | [+] More Symbols | |||
Notes
External links
| V T E | F1 drivers killed while racing | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1952: Cameron Earl 1953: Chet Miller 1954: Onofre Marimón 1955: Manny Ayulo 1955: Bill Vukovich 1957: Eugenio Castellotti 1957: Keith Andrews 1958: Pat O'Connor 1958: Luigi Musso 1958: Peter Collins 1958: Stuart Lewis-Evans |
1959: Jerry Unser 1959: Bob Cortner 1960: Chris Bristow 1960: Alan Stacey 1961: Giulio Cabianca 1961: Wolfgang von Trips 1964: Carel Godin de Beaufort 1966: John Taylor 1967: Lorenzo Bandini 1967: Bob Anderson 1968: Jo Schlesser |
1969: Gerhard Mitter 1970: Bruce McLaren 1970: Piers Courage 1970: Jochen Rindt 1971: Ignazio Giunti 1971: Pedro Rodríguez 1971: Jo Siffert 1972: Jo Bonnier 1973: Roger Williamson 1973: François Cevert 1974: Peter Revson |
1974: Helmuth Koinigg 1975: Mark Donohue 1977: Tom Pryce 1978: Ronnie Peterson 1980: Patrick Depailler 1982: Gilles Villeneuve 1982: Riccardo Paletti 1986: Elio de Angelis 1994: Roland Ratzenberger 1994: Ayrton Senna 2015: Jules Bianchi | ||
| See also: List of fatal accidents | |||||
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