About Elio de Angelis
Elio de Angelis (26 March 1958 – 15 May 1986) was an Italian racing driver, who competed in Formula One from 1979 to 1986. In Formula One, De Angelis drove for Shadow, Lotus and Brabham, winning two Grands Prix across eight seasons. He finished third in the 1984 World Drivers' Championship with Lotus. De Angelis was a competitive and highly popular presence in Formula One during the 1980s, and is sometimes referred to as Formula One's "last gentleman player". In May 1986, de Angelis was killed in an accident whilst testing the Brabham BT55 at Paul Ricard. == Early life == De Angelis was born in Rome. His father Giulio was a wealthy real estate developer and 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, 19 year old de Angelis was on Enzo Ferrari's short list to replace Niki Lauda.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.