Elio de Angelis

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 . 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===
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 '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===
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 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==
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
 	Interscope Shadow Racing Team 	 	3 	15th 	Report
 	Team Essex Lotus 	 	13 	7th 	Report
 	Team Essex Lotus 	 	14 	8th 	Report
 	John Player Team Lotus 	 	14 	8th 	Report
 	John Player Team Lotus 	 	23 	9th 	Report
 	John Player Team Lotus 	 	2 	17th 	Report
 	John Player Team Lotus 	 	2 	17th 	Report
 	John Player Team Lotus 	 	34 	 	Report
 	John Player Special Team Lotus	 	33 	5th 	Report
 	Motor Racing Developments 	 	0 	NC 	Report
===Career Statistics===
===Race Wins===
Win Number	Grand Prix
1 	1982 Austrian Grand Prix
2 	1985 San Marino Grand Prix
===Career Results===
==Notes==
==External links==
*ESPN Driver Profile
*A Tribute to Elio de Angelis
Category:Italian Drivers
Category:1958 births
Category:1986 deaths
Category:1979 Début Drivers
Category:Shadow Drivers
Category:Team Lotus Drivers
Category:Brabham Drivers
Category:F1 drivers killed while racing
Category:Drivers
Category:Deceased Drivers