Alex Zanardi, who has died aged 59, was a Formula One driver and two-times champion in Cart (previously IndyCar); he was also a paralympian who won four gold medals as a hand-cyclist. Perhaps above all he was esteemed as an inspirational figure who reinvented his life after losing both legs in a racing accident in 2001.
In September that year, Zanardi was competing in a Cart race at Lausitzring in north-east Germany, the first time the American series raced in Europe, and was leading the race when he made a late refuelling stop. He lost control while exiting the pits, spun across the track and was hit broadside-on by Alex Tagliani. The impact sheared Zanardi’s car in half. “Part of the car stayed with me, and the other part left, with parts of me in it,” Zanardi recalled in his autobiography My Story (2004).
