It is a shared mourning, the loss of Alex Zanardi, who passed away on May 1 at the age of 59. A mourning that has gone beyond motorsport, beyond sport, beyond Italy. And it is so thanks to the deep values that Zanardi conveyed, always stubbornly and contrary to fate. How many chances were there that the son of a plumber and a seamstress from Castel Maggiore could reach Formula 1? How many Italians before him had won in CART Formula in America?
Not even the tragic accident at Lausitzring managed to stop him. He reacted, becoming an inspiration for those affected by disabilities and beyond. He loved life even more, emphasizing how he still considered himself a lucky man for having been able to live his passions.
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— Quirinale (@Quirinale) May 2, 2026
Getting up, every time.
As long as you have the strength, tirelessly, because there is always a reason to look around and find a motivation not to give up.
Zanardi encouraged asking what could still be done, rather than letting oneself be dragged down by the things that could no longer be done.
And he showed it to us practically. Zanardi after the accident returned to Lausitzring in 2003, to symbolically complete those 13 laps missing in the race interrupted two years earlier, with a car with adapted controls. In 2005 he won in the WTCC at Oschersleben, the first disabled driver in history and triumphed in the Italian super touring championship. In 2006 he drove in Valencia with a BMW-Sauber F1 car. He raced again in DTM, competed in the 24 Hours of Daytona. He became a TV presenter for Sfide, on Raitre, and who better than him.
Then the handbike built with Dallara: 2 gold medals at the London 2012 Paralympic Games, another 2 in Rio 2016, 12 titles at the road world championships. That handbike that in 2020 on the roads of Pienza pressed the stop button for him. Fate that struck again. But Alex resisted again, almost 6 years.
His spiritual imprint remains very strong: let’s free the mind from the limits we impose on ourselves. Let’s love this life anyway, because the future can always be colorful. Maybe with different, new colors. And it is never over.
And Alex Zanardi will never end.
