Qualifying at Imola during Round 2 of the season highlighted both the problems and advantage that the lowline Brabham BT55 had during 1986. Acceleration out of the Variante Bassa chicane before the start-finish line showed the Brabhams as among the slowest cars when they crossed the line. However, by the time they reached the speed trap just before the braking area at Tosa, they were among the quickest. The cars were slow out of the corners, but once they got up to speed the lowline aerodynamics and the BMW turbo did their job and with the reduced drag, from the high speed Tamburello curve both Patrese and de Angelis accelerated quicker than any other cars. At Imola, the Brabhams were almost 4 seconds off pole with Patrese qualifying 16th and de Angelis 19th. The Brabham-BMWs were in fact slower than both the Benettons and Arrows which used the conventional upright BMW engine. Italian driver Elio de Angelis who had joined Brabham after six years with Lotus, was the first driver to die in a works Brabham when he was killed in an accident while testing at the Circuit Paul Ricard in France. The car survived the accident relatively intact and de Angelis had only minor injuries. However, there were very few track marshals at the circuit and he was trapped in the car and suffered oxygen deprivation due to a fire before they arrived, prompting a review of testing safety, with changes including more marshals as well as medical staff and a required medical evacuation helicopter. De Angelis died from smoke inhalation 29 hours after the crash at the hospital in Marseille where he had been taken. In the Belgian Grand Prix following the death of de Angelis, Brabham only entered one car for Patrese. From the next race in Canada, British driver Derek Warwick joined the team. According to team boss Bernie Ecclestone, Warwick, a former factory Renault driver who had been driving for the TWR Jaguar World Sportscar Championship team in 1986 after having missed out on a seat at Lotus, was reportedly the only top level driver without a current F1 drive who did not contact him in the days following de Angelis' death to ask about the drive. During qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix, Warwick and Patrese were the 3rd and 4th fastest cars through the speed trap on Monza's long front straight (behind the similarly BMW powered Benettons of Gerhard Berger and Teo Fabi).