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by Kevin Guthrie

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In the highly competitive and professional sport of Formula 1 it is rare for anyone to be universally liked. This has not always been the case. For the first couple of decades of Formula 1 it remained very much more a sport than a business. Gentlemen racers could compete in the same races as Grand Prix acing's elite. These individuals were usually from affluent backgrounds and often owned their own car or raced for a private entrant. Occasionally they even proved fast enough to merit a drive with a works team, such as the extraordinary Marquis Alfonso De Portago, a Spanish nobleman and millionaire. Besides racing, he also competed as a jockey in the Grand National and a bobsledder at the 1956 Winter Olympics. He had a child with the famous model Dorian Leigh and also dated Linda Christian.

By the time Elio De Angelis was born, on 26th March 1958, the Count had been dead almost a year, killed in a horrific accident near the finish of the Mille Miglia road race in Italy. The crash also claimed the life of his co-driver and nine spectators. Elio would have fitted perfectly into the continental Grand Prix circus of the fifties, but his career lay some years ahead, by which time the sport had changed remarkably.

Elio was of a privileged upbringing, the family owning a large construction company. He was the eldest of four children, having two brothers and a sister. His childhood was a happy one, spent kart-racing, skiing and following his favourite football team, AC Roma. Elio was also a gifted artist and pianist, the latter coming in useful when entertainment was required to relieve the tedium of a drivers strike before the 1982 South African GP.

Elio's big opportunity arrived in 1979 when he was offered a drive in Formula 1 with the small Shadow team. Although the car was not competitive his performances were enough to attract the attention of Lotus boss Colin Chapman, who signed him up for the following season as team-mate to the 1978 World Champion, Mario Andretti. Elio would go on to become the driver who competed in the most Grands Prix for Lotus and, in the main, it was an extremely happy period of his life. The highlights would come in Austria 1982, where he won his maiden Grand Prix by a matter of inches from Keke Rosberg, and San Marino in 1985, scene of his second and final win.

The relationship with Lotus began to deteriorate during that 1985 season, following the arrival of a young Brazilian as Elio's team-mate. Ayrton Senna was unlike any driver Elio had previously been paired with, obsessive in detail and determined to get the team to concentrate their efforts on him. Despite leading Senna in the World Championship Elio could see that the balance of the team was shifting and elected to leave the team at the end of the season, accepting a drive with Bernie Ecclestone's Brabham team for 1986.

For the 1986 season Brabham designer Gordon Murray produced a quite extraordinary car, the BT55, which was almost 30 centimetres lower than its predecessor. Elio was extremely excited about the prospect of racing the fantastic looking car, but early tests soon dashed his optimism, and that of his team-mate, the amiable Italian Riccardo Patrese. The car was hopeless and in Monaco Elio struggled to qualify it in last position. He retired on lap 32 with a blown engine. Elio De Angelis had just driven in his last Grand Prix.

Riccardo Patrese had been scheduled to test the Brabham at the Paul Ricard circuit in southern France following the Monaco race but Elio took his place at the last moment. On a very fast section of the circuit it appears that Elio's car suffered a rear wing failure, causing the Brabham to leave the track at tremendous velocity. The only two known witnesses to the accident were a pair of Benetton mechanics. The Brabham ended up on the other side of a crash barrier, upside down and on fire. Fellow drivers Alan Jones, Alain Prost and Nigel Mansell stopped at the scene and, along with the car's designer Grodon Murray, tried in vain to right the burning car. The few marshals who were present were dressed in no more than shorts and T-shirts and, when a fire truck finally arrived, it parked too far away. It would be 20 minutes before Elio could be released from the wreckage and a further 30 minutes before a helicopter arrived to evacuate him.

Elio De Angelis died on 15th May 1986 with his family by his side. His only injury from the initial accident was a broken collarbone. He is still fondly remembered by many in Formula 1. French driver Jean Alesi copied Elio's crash helmet design and raced with it throughout his entire Formula 1 career. His legacy is of a life lived well, a great racing driver and a thoroughly decent man.

Learn more about this author, Kevin Guthrie.

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