'A man who inspired millions in the face of unbelievable adversity'

His stellar performances in the States attracted renewed attention from F1, but a return with the Williams team in 1999 did not work out.

Zanardi later admitted he probably did not give it the dedication it needed, and Williams were in something of a decline. The relationship never seemed to gel, Zanardi rarely showed the performance the team expected of him, and Williams released him at the end of the year.

'Who cares about my legs? I am alive'

Image caption,

Alex Zanardi won won two handcycling golds in the Paralympics in London in 2012 before doing the same in Rio de Janeiro four years later

Zanardi found a seat back in Cart in 2001, driving for a team set up by his former Ganassi engineer Mo Nunn.

He was leading the race at Germany's Lausitzring oval held just four days after the 11 September attacks in the US when the accident that changed his life took place.

Exiting the pits in the closing stages of the race, Zanardi made a mistake and spun on to the track. Canadian Alex Tagliani hit Zanardi's car broadside, at close to 200mph, tearing off its nose.

The crash was like a bomb going off, and in the aftermath Zanardi's noseless car lay across the track, a river of blood flowing from it.

His heart stopped seven times. He survived for nearly an hour with less than a litre of blood. He was saved by the expert intervention of the medical team, led by Dr Steve Olvey.

Talking about regaining consciousness in hospital in Berlin eight days after the accident, Zanardi said: "I surprised myself feeling, or sensing, the highest joy I have ever had in my life. The pain was incredible. I cannot describe it. But I was alive. Who cares about my legs? I am alive. It was the most natural thing for me to focus on what I had left."

It was the end of his career in single-seater racing, but he set upon an extensive rehabilitation programme and was fitted with prosthetic limbs.

In 2003, he was given a run in a Cart car fitted with hand controls back at the Lausitzring, symbolically completing the 13 laps remaining from the race he never finished two years before.

He lapped quickly enough to qualify for the race, and that encouraged him to believe he could make a comeback to motorsport. He did a deal with BMW to provide him with a car fitted with hand controls in the World Touring Car Championship, where he competed for five seasons from 2005-9, winning four races.

Although now into his 40s, Zanardi had already embarked on another challenge that would lead to his greatest achievements.

In 2007, he finished the New York City marathon fourth in the hand-cycle class after just four weeks of training. This became Zanardi's main focus and as the years passed by, his success grew.

In 2011, he won the New York Marathon. Then, at the 2012 London Olympics, he took gold medals in the road race and the road time trial, following up with another double in Rio De Janeiro four years later, this time twinning the road time trial with the road team relay.

In effect, he dominated the sport for seven years, adding a total of 12 world championship gold medals from 2013-19.

'A hero to millions across the globe'

Image caption,

Alex Zanardi has won numerous awards, including the Nettuno d'Oro (Golden Neptune) in his home city of Bologna. He is pictured receiving the award from Mayor of Bologna Virginio Merola

Zanardi was now famous across the globe and a man in constant demand. In the many interviews requested of him, he refused to accept he was anything special, preferring instead to speak compellingly about the power of the human spirit.

"Sometimes we forget what we have," he said. "I know only one guy out of a thousand could have gone home alive after my accident and I'm that one. But you can't call me Superman. That's sending out the wrong message, as people might think it's not possible to achieve what I have unless they are special.

"Frankly, I don't think the accident made me a better person. What was there before is exactly the same, but my knowledge has been extended and I feel richer because I've seen the other side of the coin.

"That makes me less afraid of what lies ahead because life brings fantastic things but also bad things. That's what makes it marvellous. If it was all good or all bad, it would boring.

"I've experienced how great it is to be alive and how strong a man can be. Every time we think, 'That's it, it's over,' we surprise ourselves and find inner resources in our heart.

"This is a sign of hope I have witnessed in my own skin. Now I see the human being is an incredible machine, totally undiscovered in many ways. Everyone of us has a hidden tank of energy that just comes out when needed."

Zanardi died on 1 May, 32 years to the day after the loss of another motorsport icon, Ayrton Senna, a former on-track rival.

In one way, the symmetry is a mere coincidence, but it feels so much more. Zanardi, like Senna, was a hero to millions across the globe. And, like Senna, his legacy will long outlive him.