Alex Zanardi

Former F1 and IndyCar driver Alessandro ‘Alex’ Zanardi has passed away at the age of 59, his family has announced.

The Italian former racer and Paralympic gold medal winning hand cyclist has suffered with health issues in recent years as well as having battled other issues for the majority of his post race car life.

Zanardi’s life was changed in 2001 after a CART (now IndyCar) accident at Lausitz EuroSpeedway saw him lose both legs from the knee down.

Ever a fighter, Zanardi fought back with the help of self designed prosthetic limbs, returning to a car at the scene of his accident being allowed to race the 14 laps he never got to complete previously at the German 500 - his fastest lap of 37.487 seconds would have placed him fifth for the actual race.

Stints in various sports car series’ followed as well driving a hand operated F1 car in a test with BMW Sauber in 2006 before Zanardi left car racing in 2019.

Since his accident, Zanardi also competed as a handcyclist (a bicycle operated by arms and hands rather than legs) and competed at Paralympic level, winning gold at the 2012 games.

A further accident occurred for Zanardi in a Paralympic road race in Italy in 2020 where he lost control and veered into an oncoming truck, causing facial and head trauma. Zanardi fought back once again, and by early 2021 it was reported he had regained his sight, hearing and speech - and continued his recovery at home from late 2021.

Alex Zanardi left a mark on racing, and on the lives of people around him with his strong willed, never-back-down approach to life. Our thoughts are with his family, friends, supporters and loved ones, may he rest in peace.

📸Image credit: Formula Motorsport Limited