Alex Zanardi

Alex Zanardi, 59, died on May 1, 2026. Alex Zanardi was known publicly as an Italian racing driver and paracyclist and Paralympic champion (2012, 2016). Alessandro Leone Zanardi was an Italian racing driver and para-cyclist who 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 two editions of the Summer Paralympics in 2012 and 2016. In American open-wheel racing, Zanardi won two CART national championship titles in 1997 and 1998 with Chip Ganassi Racing. In para-cycling, he won four Paralympic gold medals and 12 UCI Road World Championships. After a brief career in kart racing and junior formulae—where he won the CIK-FIA European Championship in 1987 and the FIA European F3 Cup in 1990—Zanardi contested Formula One from 1991 to 1994 and again in 1999; his best result was a sixth-place finish in the 1993 Brazilian Grand Prix. Between these spells, he won two titles and 15 races in CART. This public record remains centered on Zanardi's work as an Italian racing driver and paracyclist and Paralympic champion (2012, 2016) and the documented milestones of that career.