Formula One automobile racing has its roots in the European Grand Prix championships of the 1920s and 1930s, though the foundation of the modern Formula One began in 1946 with the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile's (FIA) standardisation of rules, which was followed by a World Championship of Drivers in 1950.
Elio de Angelis was an Italian racing driver who participated in Formula One between 1979 and 1986, 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".
The 1983 Brazilian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Jacarepaguá on 13 March 1983. It was the first round of the 1983 Formula One season.
The 1985 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Paul Ricard on 7 July 1985. It was the seventh race of the 1985 Formula One World Championship. It was the 63rd French Grand Prix and the ninth to be held at Paul Ricard. The race was held over 53 laps of the 5.81-kilometre (3.61 mi) circuit for a total race distance of 307.93 kilometres (191.34 mi).
The 1985 European Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Brands Hatch on 6 October 1985. It was the fourteenth race of the 1985 Formula One World Championship.
The 1986 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 40th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1986 Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 1986 Formula One World Championship for Manufacturers, both of which commenced on 23 March and ended on 26 October after sixteen races. The Drivers' Championship was won by Alain Prost, and the Manufacturers' Championship was won by Williams-Honda, thus Honda became the first Japanese engine supplier World Champions of Formula One, and adding a constructors' title to Frank Williams' trophy collection. Prost was the first driver to win back-to-back Drivers' Championships since Jack Brabham in 1959 and 1960.
The 1985 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 39th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It began on 7 April and ended on 3 November after sixteen races. The World Championship for Drivers was won by Alain Prost, and the World Championship for Manufacturers was won by McLaren for the second consecutive year.
The 1984 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 38th season of Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) Formula One motor racing. Drivers and teams competed in sixteen Grands Prix for the World Drivers' and World Constructors' championship titles. The season ran from 5 March to 21 October.
The 1983 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 37th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1983 Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 1983 Formula One World Championship for Constructors, which were contested concurrently over a fifteen-race series that commenced on 13 March and ended on 15 October. Nelson Piquet won the Drivers' Championship, his second Formula One title and the first to be won by a driver using a turbocharged engine, while Ferrari won the Constructors' Championship. It was also the last Drivers' Championship won by a Brabham driver.
The 1982 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 36th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It included two competitions run over the course of the year, the 33rd Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 25th Formula One World Championship for Constructors. The season featured sixteen rounds between 23 January and 25 September. The Drivers' Championship was won by Keke Rosberg and the Constructors' Championship by Scuderia Ferrari.
The 1984 Detroit Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on June 24, 1984 in Detroit, Michigan. It was the eighth race of the 1984 Formula One World Championship.
Team Lotus was the motorsport sister company of English sports car manufacturer Lotus Cars. The team ran cars in many motorsport categories including Formula One, Formula Two, Formula Ford, Formula Junior, IndyCar, and sports car racing. More than ten years after its last race, Team Lotus remained one of the most successful racing teams of all time, winning seven Formula One Constructors' titles, six Drivers' Championships, and the Indianapolis 500 in the United States between 1962 and 1978. Under the direction of founder and chief designer Colin Chapman, Lotus was responsible for many innovative and experimental developments in critical motorsport, in both technical and commercial arenas.
The Lotus 97T was a Formula One racing car designed by Gérard Ducarouge and built by Team Lotus for use in the 1985 Formula One World Championship. A development of the previous year's 95T, the car was powered by the turbocharged 1.5-litre Renault EF15B V6 engine and ran on Goodyear tyres. John Player Special continued as the team's title sponsor, with Elf and Olympus as secondary sponsors.
The Lotus 88 is an innovative Formula One car designed by Colin Chapman, Peter Wright, Tony Rudd and Martin Ogilvie of Lotus in an effort to maximise the downforce produced by ground effect. The Lotus 88 made its debut at the first practice session of the 1981 season opener, the US Grand Prix West at Long Beach. Although the car was not allowed to race it beat the McLaren MP4/1 to be the first Formula One car with a carbon fibre monocoque chassis, the MP4/1 making its debut at the third Grand Prix of the season in Argentina.
The Lotus 91 was a car used by the English team Lotus in the 1982 Formula One season, designed by Colin Chapman, Martin Ogilvie and Tony Rudd.
Gérard Ducarouge was a French Formula One car designer. Starting his career in motorsport in 1965 when he joined Equipe Matra Sports. His Matra MS80 chassis won the Formula One championship for Jackie Stewart in 1969 and he also designed winning race cars for Ligier and Lotus.
The Williams FW12 was a Formula One racing car used by the Williams team for the 1988 season. An updated version, the FW12C, was used for 12 of the 16 races of the 1989 season. The FW12 was Williams's first naturally aspirated car since the FW08 and FW08C used in the 1982 and 1983 season.
The Lotus 94T was a Formula One racing car used by Team Lotus in the second part of the 1983 Formula One season. The car was powered by the Renault Gordini EF1 V6-turbo engine, and ran on Pirelli tyres. The car was designed and built in only six weeks by the incumbent designer Gérard Ducarouge, who was brought into the team by boss Peter Warr in an attempt to stave off the uncompetitiveness of the previous Lotus cars.
The Lotus 93T was a Formula One car with which the Team Lotus participated the first part of the F1 championship in 1983. It was the first Lotus car to use the Renault Gordini EF1 turbo engine and was the last F1 car designed by team founder Colin Chapman. In the championship the car was driven by Elio de Angelis, the other driver of the team, Nigel Mansell, raced with the Lotus 92, a car with the Ford Cosworth engine. The 93T was replaced in the course of the season with the Lotus 94T. Mansell drove the 93T car twice, in the 1983 German Grand Prix after he suffered problems with his 94T during the warm-up and had to revert to the older model and in a non-championship race, the 1983 Race of Champions. The 93T usually performed well in qualifying but suffered with reliability problems and came only once to the finish of a race.
The Renault RE60 was a Formula One car designed by Bernard Dudot and Jean-Claude Migeot and was raced by the Renault team in the 1985 season. The cars were driven by Patrick Tambay and Derek Warwick who had also driven for the team in 1984.
Elio de Angelis 
Nigel Mansell 
