Martin Brundle Pays Tribute as Alex Zanardi Dies at 59
martin brundle joins the sport in mourning after Alex Zanardi died aged 59, closing the career of a driver whose life moved from Formula One and CART titles to Paralympic gold. Zanardi’s story changed in September 2001 at Lausitzring, where a crash cost him both legs and forced a fight back that became part of racing history.
Lausitzring and the crash
Zanardi was leading the Cart race in north-east Germany when he made a late refuelling stop, lost control while leaving the pits and was hit broadside-on by Alex Tagliani. The impact sheared his car in half. He almost bled to death and lost all but one litre of his blood.
His left leg was severed at the thigh and his right leg at the knee. Doctors Terry Trammell and Steve Olvey had him helicoptered to an intensive care unit in Berlin, and his heart stopped three times before he arrived. Six weeks later, he was out of hospital and starting rehabilitation.
Back on track
The return began with prosthetic legs and later his own bespoke limbs. In 2003, he went back to Lausitzring and drove the 13 laps he had failed to complete in 2001. From 2003 to 2009, he raced for BMW in the European and World Touring Car Championships and won three races, then added a run in the Blancpain Sprint Series in 2014 and a drive in the 24 Hours of Daytona in January 2019.
His comeback did not stop at racing. In 2007, after three weeks of training, he entered the New York marathon on a handcycle and finished fourth. He later won marathons in Venice, Rome and New York, then collected two golds and a silver medal at the 2012 London Paralympics and the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
From go-karts to gold
Born in Castel Maggiore near Bologna, Zanardi grew up with a go-kart bought by his father just before his 14th birthday. Over the next seven years he won three go-kart titles in Italy and the European championship, moved into the Italian Formula 3 series in 1988, then joined the Il Barone Rampante team in Formula 3000 in 1991 and scored two wins and four second places before driving three races for Jordan in Formula One later that year. He married Daniela Manni in 1996.
His own description of the crash still captures the split in his life: “Part of the car stayed with me, and the other part left, with parts of me in it.” The sport he left behind and the one he built after 2001 now sit in the same record, and his four gold medals stand beside the CART titles that made him a champion before the accident.
