Born October 23, 1966 in Bologna, Italy, Alex Zanardi from an early age he had a life marked by tragedy but also by overcoming difficulties. At 13, still a child, he saw his sister, a promising swimmer who lost her life in a tragic car accident, leave. Naturally, his parents always tried to keep him busy and thanks to a friend who was building a kart at the time, Alex discovered a passion in cars that he never let go.
Motivated by this passion, in 1979 he built his own kart, using a dustbin and pieces of work from his father who was a plumber. The passion for automobiles grew and in the following year he started to compete in local races. In 1982 he debuted in the 100 cm3 Italian Kart Championship, taking 3rd place. A promising career was launched.
Champion in Karts
In subsequent years, Zanardi competed in various national and international competitions until finally, at the age of 19, he won for the first time the coveted Italian title, repeating the feat the following year. In 1985 and 1988 he won the Hong Kong Grand Prix, having also won the European Karting Championship in 1987, winning every race, a feat that remains unbeatable to this day.In the final of the European Championship of 100 cm3 of 1987, Zanardi found himself involved in another somewhat troubled chapter of his career. In the third lap of the last race, held in Gothenburg, Alex Zanardi and also Italian Massimiliano Orsini disputed the victory. In an act of desperation, Orsini tried at all costs to overtake Zanardi, ending up colliding with him. Zanardi tried to restart the kart to finish the race and that was when Orsini's father entered the track and started attacking Zanardi. Moral of the story? None finished the race and the title was handed to one… Michael Schumacher.
In 1988, Alex started to stand out when he moved to Italian Formula 3, disputing the category title in 1990. The following year, he moved to Formula 3000, signed by a rookie team. His performance was surprising, winning three races (one of which was his debut race) and getting 2nd place at the end of the season.
Formula 1 debut
In 1991, Zanardi competed in three Formula 1 races with Jordan, but the following year he had to settle for just replacing Christian Fittipaldi with Minardi. In 1993, after testing with Benetton, he ended up signing for Lotus and had an important role in setting up the active suspension system for the car. But bad luck came back to knock on his door: Zanardi broke several bones in his left foot in an accident and in the same season he was involved in another accident that resulted, “only”, in a head trauma. Thus ended the championship early for Alex.
The accident caused Zanardi to miss the start of the 1994 season, returning only to the Spanish GP to replace the injured man. Pedro Lamy , a driver who last year managed to get his place in Formula 1. It was at that time that he came across the weaknesses of the Lotus car. Alex Zanardi failed to score any points in the Formula 1 World Championship and ended up running out of place in the category.
Towards the United States of America
Later, after some tests in the USA, the Italian got a place in the American team Chip Ganassi Racing, in the Champ Car category, known at the time as CART. Zanardi quickly became one of the most popular riders in his class. In his rookie year, he scored three wins and five pole positions , finishing the championship in third place and winning the Rookie of the Year award. But the big success came in the next two years, with winning the 1997 and 1998 titles.Success in the United States catapulted the Italian into a return to Formula 1, having accepted an offer from Williams for a three-year contract. Despite high expectations, the results were not as expected, which ended up again distancing Zanardi from Formula 1.
In 2001 he would return to CART, having been hired by the hand of former Chip Ganassi team engineer, Briton Mo Nunn.
Tragedy and… willpower
During a hotly contested race at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz circuit in Klettwitz, Germany, Alex Zanardi, who had started the race from the end of the starting grid, managed to take the lead in the grid, with just a few laps to go, he ended up losing control of the grid. car, getting crossed on the track. Although driver Patrick Carpentier managed to avoid the crash, the driver behind, Canadian Alex Tagliani, could not dodge and ended up crashing into the side of Zanardi's car, behind the front wheel.
The front of the car disappeared. The Italian saw his legs amputated s and was very close to death, having lost 3/4 of blood in the accident. Thanks to the quick assistance of the medical team, she managed to survive.
The rehabilitation process was tough, but his incredible strength of will made him overcome all obstacles, starting right away with his artificial legs. Dissatisfied with the limitations of the prostheses available at the time, Zanardi decided to design and build his own prostheses — he wanted to get back to piloting.
The return… and with victories
In 2002, he was invited to wave the checkered flag at a race in Toronto and the following year, 2003, to the admiration of the motorsport world, got back behind the wheel of a CART car , adapted for the occasion, in the same place as the tragic accident, to complete the 13 laps that were left to the end of the race. Better yet, Zanardi had such good times that had he qualified for the race this weekend he would have placed fifth — impressive. The most difficult phase was thus over.
In 2004, Alex Zanardi returned to driving full time in the ETCC touring championship, which would later become the WTCC. BMW, the team that welcomed him, adapted a car to his needs and the Italian achieved an excellent performance, even tasting victory again, which led to him being awarded the “Laureus World Sports Award For Comeback of the Year” the following year.
Zanardi returned to Formula 1 in November 2006 for a test race, but even though he knew he would hardly get a contract with a team, the most important thing for him was to get the opportunity to drive again.
Olympic champion
At the end of 2009, the Italian retired from motorsport for good and started to dedicate himself fully to Para-Olympic Cycling, a sport he had started in 2007. In his rookie year, and with only four weeks of training, he managed to achieve fourth position in the New York marathon. Immediately, the goal was to integrate the 2012 Paralympic Games into the Italian team. Zanardi not only managed to qualify for the Olympics, he also won the gold medal in the H4 category.
In 2014 he also participated in the Ironman World Championship, having qualified in an honorable 272nd place. Currently, Zanardi continues to participate in several international competitions, having competed in the last Berlin Marathon, last September (NDR: in 2015, at the time of publication of the article).
Alex Zanardi, the man who confessed in an interview that he would rather die than lose his legs, admits that it was only after the accident that he realized he was wrong. Today he is a happy man and an inspiring example of resilience and willpower. A champion in motorsport, cycling and life. Congratulations Alex!
