by Alison Bowler

Created on: August 16, 2009   Last Updated: August 19, 2009

The Italian F1 driver Elio de Angelis was born in Rome on 26 March 1958. Like many a racing driver, he started driving karts as a boy. In 1974, he was champion of the second category of the Italian 100 cc class. In addition to his interest in racing, the young Elio was an accomplished musician becoming a concert standard pianist.

In 1977, he moved onto motor cars entering the Italian F3 championship. In his fourth race, in this series, he achieved a second place and went on to win the series in his first year with a total of four wins and forty-five points. The same year he came seventh in the European F3 championships with eighteen points.

The following year he moved up to the European F2 championship but did not achieve great success, gaining only twelve points to finish seventeenth in the driver's championship. He entered the Monaco F3 Grand Prix, which he won; also, he took pole position and recorded the fastest lap. This year also marked his first competitive drive in an F1 car, when he competed in a race in the Aurora F1 championship.

The year 1979 marked his first full year driving in F1 when he signed with the Shadow F1 team. He finished the year in seventeenth position in the championship with three points.

At the start of the 1980 season de Angelis signed as driver for the Lotus team. He remained with Lotus until 1985. He only won two Grand Prix during this time, the Austrian Grand Prix in 1982 and the 1985 San Marino Grand Prix. His best year with Lotus was 1984 when with thirty-four points he reached third position in the driver's championship. His best result in 1984 was second place at the Detroit Grand Prix. In his final year with Lotus, despite winning at San Marino, he finished fifth in the driver's championship with thirty-three points.

The F1 driver's strike took place in 1985. During this strike at the South African Grand Prix Elio de Angelis entertained his fellow drivers with his piano playing.

With Ayrton Senna in the number one driver's position with Lotus, de Angelis left to join Brabham in 1986. At Brabham, he replaced twice World Champion Nelson Piquet as driver.

While testing the Brabham BT55 car at the Paul Ricard track in France, on 15 August 1986, the rear wing became detached causing the car to cartwheel out of control. The car caught fire with the unfortunate de Angelis unable to free himself. Lack of trackside marshals on a testing day meant that it took over thirty minutes for his rescuers to free him from his vehicle. Twenty-nine hours after the crash, de Angelis died, in a Marseilles hospital, as a result of lung damage caused by smoke inhalation. His actual physical injuries from the initial crash were minor consisting of only a broken collarbone and some minor burns to his back.

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