Alessandro Zanardi

Alessandro Zanardi

Nation:	Italy
Formula 1 world championship
First start:	1991 Spanish Grand Prix
Last start:	1999 Japanese Grand Prix
Constructors
1991  Jordan  • 1992  Minardi  • 1993–1994  Lotus  • 1999  Williams
statistics
World Cup balance:	WM-20. ( 1993 )
Starts Victories Poles SR 41 - - -
World Cup points :	1
Podiums :	-
Leadership laps :	-

Alessandro "Alex" Zanardi (born October 23, 1966 in Bologna ) is an Italian racing driver who is active both in motor racing and on the handbike in road cycling .

From 1991 to 1999 he competed in 41 Grand Prix races as part of the Formula 1 World Championship . In 1997 and 1998 he won the Champ Car Championship . In 2001 he had a serious accident in a race of this series at the Lausitzring and has been amputated since then . Between 2005 and 2009 Zanardi drove back to automobile races and took part in the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) for BMW . In 2012 he was a two-time Paralympic winner in the handbike discipline . In 2016 he won another gold and silver medal.

Athletic career

Motorsport

Zanardi achieved two titles and 15 race wins in the Champ Car series; in Formula 1, on the other hand, he achieved one point overall at the 1993 Brazilian Grand Prix .

He made his debut in 1991 with the Italian team Il Barone Rampante in Formula 3000 . He won two races and was fourth four times. He led the drivers' standings until shortly before the end of the season, but was then overtaken by Christian Fittipaldi ( Pacific ) and finished the 1991 season as runner-up.

Zanardi made his Formula 1 debut in September 1991 at the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona for Jordan . This was followed by further assignments for Minardi , before he received a contract for the full season with Lotus in 1993 . A serious accident in Spa-Francorchamps stopped his career for the time being. In 1994 he was only allowed to drive the Lotus again in the race after Pedro Lamy's bad luck with an injury , but did so with little success.

After several quite unsuccessful years, Zanardi switched to the US CART series in 1996 . He went on Reynard - Honda alongside Jimmy Vasser , the 1996 Target Ganassi Racing won the championship. Zanardi was named Rookie of the Year and won three races. His success in Laguna Seca achieved particular fame when he overtook Bryan Herta on the last lap in the so-called “Corkscrew”, a secluded, steeply sloping S-curve - a maneuver that has since been known as “The Pass”. In 1997 and 1998 he won the championship before the end of the season.

Due to his successes in the USA and because he still had a "bill to settle" with Formula 1, Zanardi switched back to Formula 1 in 1999 and became Ralf Schumacher's team mate at Team Williams . However, he did not achieve any championship points that year and temporarily retired from motorsport .

In 2001 he joined Mo Nunn's team again in the Champ Car series. After many unsuccessful races, he led a race at the Lausitzring on September 15th for the first time in a long time. After the last pit stop, there was a serious collision with Alex Tagliani's car : When exiting the pit, Zanardi got onto the green strip that separates the racetrack from the pit exit and sped uncontrollably onto the track, where he drove from Tagliani at 320 km / h was hit. His car was torn in two. Zanardi had to be resuscitated seven times and lost both legs above the knees. However, that didn't stop him from getting back into a racing car after two years. In 2003, before the series appeared again, he finished the 13 laps at the Lausitzring that he had missed after the accident and completed “his” race. The lap times achieved here would have been enough for fifth place in the qualification.

Between 2005 and 2009 , Alessandro Zanardi drove in the World Touring Car Championship for BMW . He drove a specially converted car in which he could accelerate with his hand and operate the brake with the prosthesis of the right leg. On August 29, 2005, Zanardi won his first race since his serious accident in a World Touring Car Championship race in Oschersleben . After the race he drove - not quite in compliance with the rules - in the reverse direction through the pit lane, where he was celebrated by all the drivers and mechanics. He achieved two more racing victories in 2006 in Istanbul and 2008 in Brno . He resigned at the end of 2009.

On November 25, 2006, Zanardi got back into a Formula 1 racing car after a seven-year break. During the Formula BMW World Final, BMW Sauber F1 provided him with an F1.06 , the Formula 1 racing car of the 2006 season, which had been specially converted for his needs . This makes Zanardi the first racing driver with an amputated leg to complete a test drive in a Formula 1 vehicle. He drove 30 timed laps on the circuit in Valencia (Spain). According to the then BMW sports director Mario Theissen , this should have been a one-time affair. No further attempts were planned.

On January 21, 2014, BMW announced that Zanardi, at the age of 47, would make his comeback as a racing driver this season in the Blancpain GT Series .

Together with Timo Glock and Bruno Spengler Zanardi in a specially prepared BMW Z4 GT3 at Spa 24 Hours participated, 2015. After the team was even in sixth place in the meantime, it was unable to finish the race due to an engine failure in the last hour of the race.

After Zanardi took part in the Paralympic Games again in 2016, he won the season finale of the Italian GT Championship in his first race in a specially prepared BMW M6 GT3.

Cycling since 2011

Alessandro Zanardi hand bike
Personal information
Type of disability (class):	Leg amputations (H4)
Nationality:	Italy
Birthday:	23rd October 1966 (age 53)
Place of birth:	Bologna , Italy

Since 2011 he has participated successfully with a handbike in the Maratona dles Dolomites , one of the most important cycling races for amateur athletes in Europe. a. conquered the long distance of 138 km and 4190 m.

2012 Zanardi was at the Summer Paralympics in London in the hand bikes at the start. He started this sport during his time at the World Touring Car Championship and is considered a professional in it. In 2007 he took fourth place in his first participation in the New York City Marathon , and in 2011 he won the competition in this category. On July 5, 2012, he made his comeback on the Brands Hatch circuit in a handbike and won gold in the individual time trial and road race and silver in mixed team driving at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London.

At the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro , Zanardi won three medals in the H5 class: one gold each in the individual time trial and one in the mixed relay with Vittorio Podesta and Luca Mazzone, and a silver one in the road race.

On June 19, 2020, he crashed into a truck at the Obiettivo Tricolore hand bike race near Pienza and suffered severe head injuries. He was flown by rescue helicopter to the University Hospital in Siena , where he underwent neurosurgery and maxillofacial surgery. As there was a ban on cycling races in Italy until August 1, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the event was therefore not officially registered, the road was not, as is usual, closed to motor vehicles. According to his doctors, Zanardi is at risk of losing both eyes as a result of the surgery.

Triathlon since 2014

In 2014, Zanardi started as a triathlete using a handbike and a wheelchair at Ironman Hawaii (3.86 km swimming, 180.2 km cycling and 42.195 km running). Zanardi announced a start at Ironman Austria in July 2017 in order to qualify for the Ironman Hawaii a third time after 2014 and 2015.

Trivia

In 1999, the Honda premium brand Acura launched a signed Zanardi special edition of the NSX sports car, limited to fifty copies, as a reminder of the success achieved by Zanardi with Honda engines on the North American market. The car with the number 1 got the namesake.

Personal

Zanardi was nicknamed "Alex" during his time in the USA because the television commentators there the Italian name was too long and too complicated.

statistics

Statistics in the Formula 1 World Championship

general overview

season	team	chassis	engine	run	Victories	Second	Third	Poles	nice Race laps	Points	WM-Pos.
1991	Team 7UP Jordan	Jordan 191	Ford 3.5 V8	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	31.
1992	Minardi team	Minardi M192	Lamborghini 3.5 V12	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	35.
1993	Team Lotus	Lotus 107B	Ford 3.5 V8	11	-	-	-	-	-	1	20th
1994	Team Lotus	Lotus 107C	Mugen-Honda 3.5 V10	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	30th
		Lotus 109		8th	-	-	-	-	-	-
1999	Winfield Williams	Williams FW21	Supertec 3.0 V10	16	-	-	-	-	-	-	19th
total				41	-	-	-	-	-	1

Single results

season	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16
1991
														9	DNF	9
1992
									DNQ	DNF	DNQ
1993
	DNF	6th	8th	DNF	14th	7th	11	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNS
1994
					9	15th	DNF	DNF	DNF	13		DNF		16	13	DNF
1999
	DNF	DNF	11	8th	DNF	DNF	DNF	11	DNF	DNF	DNF	8th	7th	DNF	10	DNF

Awards

• 2012: Italy's Sportsman of the Year ( La Gazzetta dello Sport )
• 2015: Gazzetta Sports Award - "Legend"
• 2018: An asteroid named after him: (22517) Alexzanardi

Web links

Commons : Alessandro Zanardi  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Alessandro Zanardi in the catalog of the German National Library
• official homepage
• BMW M4 DTM for Alex Zanardi: Special technology for DTM craftsmen. In: auto motor und sport . August 7, 2018(article on car conversion). 

Individual evidence

1. ^ Zanardi the brave - The Observer, August 4, 2002
2. ^ A Fateful Turn ( October 19, 2011 memento in the Internet Archive ) - Sports Illustrated September 24, 2001
3. ^ Pro7: Galileo . Broadcast on: January 9, 2007. See also: Galileo website .
4. ^ Motorsport magazine: Zanardi / Glock / Spengler: Spa winner of the heart
5. ↑ Motorsport total: 24h Spa: Spengler: An honor to be Zanardi's team-mate
6. ↑ Motorsport total: Fantastic debut: Alessandro Zanardi wins in Mugello
7. ^ Zanardi at the Paralympics
8. ↑ Handbike instead of bolide: Alessandro Zanardi's second career ( Memento from August 29, 2012 on WebCite )
9. ↑ Zanardi's comeback on the racetrack ( Memento from September 8, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
10. ↑ Paralympics 2012 Former Formula 1 driver Zanardi wins gold
11. ↑ Zanardi celebrates second gold
12. ↑ Mario Fritzsche, Roberto Chinchero: Alex Zanardi: Serious traffic accident with a handbike in Italy. Motorsport-Total.com, June 19, 2020, accessed June 19, 2020 . 
13. ↑ Zanardi contro un camion con la hand bike "Operato alla testa, è in terapia intensiva". Gazzetta dello Sport, June 19, 2020, accessed June 19, 2020 (Italian). 
14. ↑ Mario Fritzsche: Update 2 on Alex Zanardi from the hospital: "Condition very serious". Motorsport-Total.com, June 19, 2020, accessed June 19, 2020 . 
15. ↑ Hope for a second miracle: Zanardi in critical condition. Die Zeit , June 21, 2020, accessed on June 22, 2020 . 
16. ↑ Zanardi threatens to lose both eyes. n-tv , June 23, 2020, accessed on June 23, 2020 . 
17. ↑ Zanardi masters his first Ironman in Hawaii. October 12, 2014, accessed October 21, 2014 . 
18. ↑ The next fairy tale by Alex Zanardi (October 13, 2014)
19. ↑ Formula 1 legend and Olympic champion Alessandro Zanardi starts at IRONMAN Austria-Kärnten (March 21, 2017)