Stefan Bellof

Stefan Bellof (born in Gießen, Germany on November 20, 1957 – died in Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium on September 1, 1985) was a Formula One driver who raced for the Tyrrell team. After taking the German FF1600 title in 1980 he made his debut mid-season in German Formula 3, almost winning the championship. In 1983, with BMW backing, he got a place in Willy Maurer’s European F2 team, winning the first two races of the season. Maurer would later become his manager.

He also joined the Rothmans-backed Porsche factory team for the World Endurance Championship the same season. He joined Tyrrell in 1984. He won the World Endurance Championship for drivers, and helped Porsche to win the manufacturer's title, in the same year.

Regarded as a likely future F1 World Champion, he was killed at the 1985 1000km Spa sports car race, when he tangled his Walter Brun-entered Porsche 956 with Jacky Ickx's works 956 at Eau Rouge corner, with both cars catching fire and halting the race.

Always saddled with uncompetitive cars in F1, Bellof never truly had the opportunity to show his talent. According to The Official Stefan Bellof Website, there was an offer from Ferrari for the 1986 Formula One season. Today, he is often mentioned as Michael Schumacher's childhood racing idol and during an interview for the January 2007 issue of the 911 and Porsche World magazine, teammate Derek Bell felt Stefan's death was caused by lack of discipline in his driving style and felt the blame was those around Stefan including team personnels who should had allow him to mature.

// Extracted from Wikipedia (see full text clicking here)//

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