Elio de Angelis (26 March 1958 – 15 May 1986) was an Italian racing driver who participated in Formula One between and , racing for the Shadow, Lotus and Brabham teams. He was killed in an accident while testing the Brabham BT55 at the Paul Ricard circuit, near the commune of Le Castellet, France, in 1986. De Angelis was a very competitive and highly popular presence in Formula One during the 1980s, and is sometimes referred to as Formula One's "last gentleman player". Early life De Angelis was born in Rome. His father Giulio was 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 the Italian Formula Three Championship in 1977. In 1978 he raced in Formula Two for Minardi and then for the ICI British F2 Team, he also competed in one round of the British Formula One championship and won the prestigious Monaco F3 race. Formula One At the end of the 1977 season, de Angelis was on Enzo Ferrari's short list to replace Niki Lauda. De Angelis successfully tested the Ferrari at the Fiorano circuit but eventually Ferrari decided to hire Gilles Villeneuve. De Angelis's debut Formula One season was in with Shadow. He finished seventh in his maiden Grand Prix in Argentina and 15th in the championship with three points. De Angelis's performance with Shadow caught the eye of Lotus boss Colin Chapman, who hired him to partner Mario Andretti in . At the age of 21, de Angelis became the youngest Grand Prix podium finisher of all time when he finished second at the Brazilian Grand Prix, run at the Interlagos circuit. His first victory came in the 1982 Austrian Grand Prix at the Österreichring, 0.05 seconds ahead of the Williams of eventual World Champion Keke Rosberg. The win was the last hailed by Colin Chapman's act of throwing his cloth cap into the air. Chapman died in December that year and Peter Warr became the new Lotus team manager. In Lotus switched from the Cosworth DFV they had been using since , to Renault turbo engines, but it was a disappointing season, suffering multiple mechanical failures. De Angelis's best result was a fifth place in the 1983 Italian Grand Prix. In de Angelis had a much better season, scoring a total of 34 points and