Alex Zanardi, Paralympic champion and former F1/CART driver, dies at 59

Alex Zanardi, the Italian former Formula 1 driver who rebuilt his career after losing both legs to become a Paralympic champion, has died at 59, his family announced Saturday.

In a statement issued May 2, the family said his death “occurred suddenly on the evening of yesterday, 1 May.” No cause of death was disclosed, according to the family statement as reported by major news outlets. The family said, “Alex died peacefully, surrounded by the affection of those closest to him.”

Zanardi’s death is major news well beyond Formula 1 because his career reached elite level in two different worlds. He first became known as a top open-wheel racer, winning back-to-back CART championships in the United States in 1997 and 1998. After a 2001 crash that led to the amputation of both legs, he returned to competition, first in adapted motorsport and then in hand-cycling, where he became a four-time Paralympic gold medalist for Italy.

Born Oct. 23, 1966, in Bologna, Zanardi raced in Formula 1 in the 1990s for Jordan, Minardi, Lotus and Williams. According to Formula1.com, he contested 41 Grands Prix. His biggest success in motorsport came in U.S. open-wheel racing with Chip Ganassi’s team, where he won CART titles in 1997 and 1998 and established himself as one of the series’ standout drivers.

His life changed in September 2001, when he was seriously injured in a CART crash at the Lausitzring in Germany. The crash resulted in the amputation of both legs. Rather than disappear from elite sport, Zanardi returned in adapted racing and later turned to hand-cycling, beginning the second act that made him one of the world’s best-known examples of athletic reinvention.

Competing for Italy at the Paralympics in London in 2012 and Rio de Janeiro in 2016, Zanardi won six medals in total: four gold and two silver. Those results, achieved more than a decade after the crash that ended his conventional racing career, broadened his reputation from motorsport star to a national sporting figure whose achievements resonated far beyond racing fans.

In later years, Zanardi again faced grave injuries. On June 19, 2020, he was seriously hurt in a handbike crash near Siena in Tuscany, suffering severe cranial and facial trauma. He underwent emergency neurosurgery and then a long rehabilitation. His family’s statement announcing his death did not disclose a cause, and reports on Saturday did not link his death to that 2020 accident.

Tributes came quickly from across sport and Italian public life. Formula 1 announced his death and published a message from Stefano Domenicali, the series’ president and CEO, who said: “I am deeply saddened by the passing of my dear friend Alex Zanardi. He was truly an inspirational person, as a human and as an athlete.”

Italy’s Olympic committee, known as CONI, called for a minute of silence at sporting events over the weekend. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also expressed condolences, according to Italian and international wire reports.

For many sports fans, Zanardi’s legacy was not defined only by the 41 Grands Prix he started or the two CART titles he won in his prime. It was also defined by what followed: a return to world-class competition after catastrophic injury, and a second career that brought Paralympic gold and made him a symbol of resilience in Italy and far beyond.

The family said funeral arrangements would be announced later.