Riccardo Paletti (15 June 1958 – 13 June 1982) was an Italian motor racing driver.
Paletti was killed when he crashed on the start grid in his second Formula One start. Info from Wiki
Bio by Stephen Latham
Born in Milan in 1958, Riccardo Paletti’s early interests did not involve racing as he was an Italian junior karate champion at thirteen and also made it to the national alpine skiing youth selection.
Only when he was nineteen did he take up motorsport and, with backing from his father, entered nine Formula Super Ford races in 1978 with an Osella. He didn’t win during that first season but led for 18 laps in his first race and took two second place finishes and was third overall in the championship. He also made his F3 debut in the Italian championship in a March-Toyota and went on to contest a full F3 season in 1979 although his best results were two fifth-place finishes. During 1979 he also contested an F2 race with Mike Earle’s March-BMW at Misano, though failed to finish.
1980 saw him race for the Onyx F2 team at Mugello, Zandvoort, Misano and Monza, with his best result a third at Monza.
After testing with the team during the winter, he contested 1981’s European F2 championship with them and began to make real progress. After qualifying tenth with the March 812-BMW in the opening race at Silverstone he finished second to Mike Thackwell and though he retired at Hockenheim he set fastest lap of the race.
He was third in the next round at Thruxton, behind Roberto Guerrero and Ej Elgh, and at this stage was joint second in the championship with Stefan Johansson, with both close behind Mike Thackwell. However, from that point the season went against him, only scoring a point at Vallelunga and being forced to retire from the final six races and he finished tenth in the championship.
Following this came a major step up, into F1 with Osella, alongside Jean-Pierre Jarier, though it was a difficult debut with the small team. Ricardo admitted that he was actually a bit fearful of F1 but he did not want to miss the opportunity and his sponsor, Pioneer, wanted him to move up. He was always accompanied by a personal medical adviser who monitored his blood pressure and heartbeat with sensors attached to his body during testing and practice sessions and his diet was constantly adapted to the results. He failed to qualify his Osella FA1C-Cosworth in South Africa while at Rio de Janeiro for the Brazilian race, he had to pre-qualify on the Friday morning, but a wheel fell off after a suspension failure and he did not make the grid. He failed at Long Beach but then qualified at the fourth round San Marino Grand Prix. At Imola, only 14 cars started due to a boycott by a number of teams but on the warm up lap his car failed to fire up and when he left the pits the other cars were already lining up for the start. When he actually crossed the starting line he was already 49 seconds behind but his race ended after seven laps due to a suspension failure.
Next came the Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder, where he failed to pre-qualify on Friday and the same happened at Monaco though his form seemed to improve when the series returned to North America. At Detroit he was much closer to his team mate’s pace and qualified twenty third, right behind him, but then lost a wheel at the start of the warm-up session. The mechanics tried to repair the car in time for the race and though there was a chance of starting the race in the spare car, that option disappeared after JP Jarier’s fire extinguisher accidentally went off. He took the spare car and it was a race against time for Ricardo’s mechanics to set up the car and they were still working on it when the others progressed to the grid. But just as they finished, they were told that Jarier had damaged his car and was on his way back to the pits and poor Ricardo became a spectator as his car was taken over for JP Jarier to start the race from the pit lane.
Then the teams travelled to Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, where Ricardo qualified twenty third for the Canadian Grand Prix. At the start, the lights took an unusually long time to turn to green and then pole sitter Didier Pironi stalled his Ferrari’s engine. He lifted his hand to signal the problem and though most cars managed to avoid him, as the last few cars approached, Raul Boesel’s March hit the left rear wheel of the Ferrari, took off and fortunately landed right way up. Unfortunately, Ricardo could not react in time and slammed into the rear of the stranded Ferrari with sickening force, knocking it across the track, where it was clipped by Geoff Lee’s Theodore.
The Osella’s nose was severely crushed and he sustained broken legs and severe internal injuries. Medical cars and ambulances stopped and Didier Pironi ran to help but with people around it the Osella suddenly burst into flames with Ricardo still immobile and trapped in the car. Fire marshals extinguished the blaze and once done work then began to free him but the car was so badly crushed that it took 25 minutes to cut him our safely. He was flown by a medical helicopter to the Royal Victoria Hospital, where he sadly passed away from his injuries soon after arrival. Tragically, his mother Gina had been watching the race from the stands as they were to celebrate his 24th birthday later that week.
In tribute to him, the racetrack at Varano de Melegari, in the province of Parma (northern Italy) is now called the Autodromo Riccardo Paletti. There is also a side altar in the Church of Santa Maria al Carrobiolo, Monza dedicated to his memory, in the Chapel of the Crucifix, and his body is buried in the Cimitero Maggiore di Milano.
Riccardo Paletti – Racing towards a fate he never even saw coming – from 
