Alex Zanardi

Alessandro Leone Zanardi (1966 to 2026) was an Italian racing driver and para-cyclist. He competed in Formula One between 1991 and 1999, in CART between 1996 and 2001, in the World Touring Car Championship from 2005 to 2009, and at the Summer Paralympics in 2012 and 2016. In American open-wheel racing he won two CART championships, in 1997 and 1998, with Chip Ganassi Racing. A major crash at the Lausitzring in 2001 led to the amputation of both his legs, but he returned to racing within two years and went on to win four races in the World Touring Car Championship. He then took up handcycling, won four Paralympic gold medals and twelve UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships, and was honoured as a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic in 2014.