Lewis Hamilton paid a glowing tribute to former F1 driver Alex Zanardi, who died on Friday at the age of 59.
Born in Bologna, Zanardi competed in Formula One for five seasons, achieving a best finish of sixth at the 1993 Brazilian Grand Prix. A major crash in 2001 resulted in the amputation of both his legs, a life-altering event he remarkably overcame.
He went on to become a Paralympic champion, securing two para-cycling gold medals at the London Games in 2012, and two more in Rio de Janeiro four years later. A multiple winner at the UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships, most recently in 2019, another serious accident in 2020 led to a further lengthy lay-off.
At this weekend’s Miami Grand Prix. seven-time F1 world champion Hamilton told Sky Sports: “Sad to hear of his passing. He was remarkable, a really lovely guy.
“And then with his resilience, the way he came back, how he always maintained a positive mental attitude. An inspiration to so many and he did things the right way.”
Sky Sports pundit Martin Brundle, who competed against Zanardi in F1, also provided some warm words for his fellow racer.
“He was the most wonderful character and extraordinary individual,” Brundle said. “People did not expect him to survive the accident in 2001. We were in Monza and heard he wouldn’t make it, but he did.
“He just had a relentless competitive nature against all odds and challenges and then tragically had another accident with his hand-bike and a truck.
“No news was bad news in that respect – what an incredible character and inspiration to everybody.”
Zanardi raced for Team Jordan, Minardi and Team Lotus in F1. The switch to CART proved successful as he delivered consecutive championship successes for Chip Ganassi before a brief return to F1 with Williams.
Zanardi’s crash in 2001 sent his career and life on a different trajectory, but success still followed in abundance.
After Zanardi was able to drive again, firstly with the aid of a hand-operated brake and accelerator controls, a car was modified to allow the use of his prosthetic feet in the 2003 European Touring Car Championship at Monza.
He was even able to step foot back into a F1 car for testing, but quickly shifted his focus to the next big goal and, after completing numerous marathons, hand-cycling was a way to return to the podium.
A first Paralympic gold medal followed at the men’s road time trial H4 at the London Games in 2012 before he secured the individual H4 road race days later.
The next Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro produced two more wins, this time in the H5 men’s time trial and mixed team relay, to further etch Zanardi’s name into the history books.
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