Which Formula 1 Driver Lost His Legs?

Editorial credit: Alextype / Shutterstock.com

Car racing is not the safest sport out there. Risks are always assumed to be part and parcel of the racing driver’s life. Despite numerous efforts by race organizers, team managers, car designers, and the drivers themselves to make it safer, the risk never goes away, and sometimes life or limb can be lost in the sport. One such driver lost both his legs but lived a remarkable life afterward.

Alessandro “Alex” Zanardi, a former Formula One racing driver for Jordan, Minardi, Lotus, and Williams, lost both legs in a severe crash during the 2001 American Memorial CART race. Though he never returned to Formula One, he went on to become a paralympic champion in hand cycling.

Alex Zanardi is an exceptional person with a life story to match any other. His tale is one of overcoming challenges and the worst possible adversity with courage and cheerfulness. Let’s look at the events of Zanardi’s life leading up to his tragic accident and the inspiring way that he returned to a life of victory afterward.

Alex Zanardi’s Life Before Formula 1

Alessandro “Alex” Zanardi was born in Bologna, Italy, in 1966. He lived an everyday life for most of his early years. But the car-related tragedies in Alex Zanardi’s life started early on. In 1979, when Alex was only 13 years old, his sister was killed in a car accident. Far from being deterred by this tragedy, though, Alex began driving carts in the same year.

His passion for car racing only grew from there, and by 1991 he was consistently winning Formula 3000 series races. This was when he caught the attention of some Formula 1 team managers, particularly Eddie Jordan.

Zanardi’s Formula 1 Career

Eddie Jordan needed a replacement for Roberto Moreno to finish off the final three races of the 1991 Formula 1 tournament. He approached Zanardi, who stepped up as a driver in the Spanish Grand Prix, Japanese Grand Prix, and Australian Grand Prix.

Zanardi did not finish the Japanese Grand Prix, but he finished in 9^th place for both of the other races, performing about as well as Moreno was expected to. He could not get a permanent driver’s seat for the 1992 race year, but he was a super-sub for Minardi and performed occasional driver tests for Benetton.

By 1993, Zanardi’s cards had changed, and he got a full-time driver’s seat with Lotus for the racing season. He finished in 6^th place in the Brazilian Grand Prix, and his future in Formula 1 was looking promising.

But then disaster struck again. Zanardi suffered a horrible concussion in a major crash during a practice session for the Belgian Grand Prix. The effects of the concussion kept Alex out of the races for the rest of the year, as well as the first four races of the 1994 racing season. By the time he got back into the car, Lotus had lost its competitive edge, and Zanardi didn’t score any further points.

Moving To The US – The CART Series

It seems that Zanardi decided at this point that Formula 1 wasn’t for him, and he moved to the United States so that he could compete in the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) series. Alex became a full-time driver for the series in 1996 despite reservations from team managers.

The start of his first year in CART was slow, and he scored no points, but by the second half of the 1996 season, he had found his groove and won three races. He often demonstrated his willingness to take huge risks while overtaking, but this paid off for him as he soon found himself to be one of the most popular drivers in the series.

Over the course of the next two years (1997 and 1998), Zanardi won 12 races, firmly establishing himself as a part of the sport.

Return To Formula 1

Alex Zanardi’s success in the CART series made the F1 managers take notice of him again. Suddenly he was overwhelmed by offers, the most noticeable being from Williams and Honda. After negotiating, Zanardi signed a three-year contract with Williams from 1999 to 2001. Zanardi had hopes of finally getting his breakthrough in Formula One.

Unfortunately, this did not happen. Alex failed to score even one point during his first season, while his teammate, Ralph Schumacher, finished sixth in the standings. This led to Williams terminating Zanardi’s contract, following a payout of US$4 Million. Zanardi realized that this was the end of his F1 career.

Return To The CART Series And Tragedy Number 3

When we suffer tragedy and our dreams are shattered, we all tend to return to something good that we had before. Alex Zanardi did the same. After taking a year off, Zanardi returned to the CART series, where he had previously managed to build a name for himself.

During what seemed to be Zanardi’s big comeback race, he lost control of his car shortly after a pit stop, and Alex Tagliani crashed into him at 200 miles per hour. During the impact, Zanardi’s car was torn in two, and both his legs were ripped off in the process.

Zanardi was immediately evacuated to a hospital in Berlin, where he was in a coma for three days. He lost 75% of his blood, his heart stopped seven times, and everyone was so convinced that he would die that he was given his last rites.

Somehow, though, Alex Zanardi pulled through. His recovery was challenging, but despite wanting to give up multiple times, Zanardi kept going and got prosthetic limbs.

Zanardi’s Return To Racing After Losing His Legs

Alex Zanardi’s custom prosthetics actually allowed him to participate in car races again, starting with the 2003 European Touring Car Championship, just two years after suffering his near-fatal crash. In the following years, he took four wins and ten podiums.

However, Zanardi had always been a man who wanted to compete at the highest level of his chosen sport, and he finally had to admit that his prosthetics would never allow him to do that in motorsport.

Hand Cycling And The Paralympics

Zanardi turned his focus to hand cycling, deciding to turn his disability into an advantage. He participated in small competitions from 2007, steadily improving, with his efforts eventually culminating in him competing in the 2012 London Paralympic Games.

Zanardi won three medals (two gold and one silver) in the 2012 Paralympics and then repeated the feat in Brazil in 2016, once again winning two gold and one silver. The winning streak continued for years, with Zanardi breaking records and winning races, establishing himself as one of the greatest hand cyclists in history, and even beating non-disabled opponents in the sport.

Tragedy Strikes Again

Nineteen years after his near-fatal crash, in July 2020, Alex Zanardi was racing in a national Italian road race when he lost control of his vehicle and veered into an oncoming truck. This resulted in severe head injuries. Once again, Zanardi was close to death, but after very extensive surgery and a few days of recovery, he was in a stable condition once again.

Sadly, the damage to his brain is so widespread that Zanardi will likely never be able to compete in sports again. He lost his eyesight, though that eventually returned after a few months. But much of the further damage is deemed by medical experts to be irreversible. But his recovery is ongoing, and who knows what a man with such resilience could still accomplish.

\"\" — Editorial credit: Stefano Chiacchiarini \’74 / Shutterstock.com

Conclusion

Though he never made it to the top in Formula 1, Alex Zanardi is one of the most respected drivers across all categories due to his determination and extraordinary strength of mind. He has left his mark on the sports world in general, and there’s no sportsperson alive today who could read his story and not respect the man who suffered so much tragedy yet consistently turned it into victory.