Nationality: Italian
Born: 1966
Races: 25
Debut: Italy 1991
Teams: Jordan (‘91),
Lotus (‘93-’94), Williams ('99)
Current Team: Williams |
Alex rose to stardom when he was a surprise contender for the 1991
F3000 title, despite being an outside bet to win it. Christian Fittipaldi won the championship in the end, being a more consistent points scorer.
The F3000 championship rounds were support races at Grand Prix meeting so F1
team bosses got a good view of the up and coming talent. Alex’s speed was
recognised by Eddie Jordan, who snapped him up for the following season of
Grand Prix.
Zanardi made his Formula One debut at the 1991 Italian Grand Prix, as a replacement for Michael Schumacher who had controversially moved to Benetton. He soon showed his potential driving excellently in the wet Spanish race.
The following season, Alex signed up with the Benetton team expecting to be racing, but Martin Brundle and Schumacher filled the seats, leaving him as their test driver for a year.
Unhappy with this, he moved to Lotus in 1993, but his luck ran out at the Belgian Grand Prix when he lost control at the 190mph Eau Rouge complex and suffered a badly bruised eye. Pedro Lamy, his replacement, drove well, matching team-mate Herbert’s speed. However, at Silverstone in 1994, while testing he suffered a rear wing failure and hit the barriers at high speed, breaking both legs.
Zanardi returned for the next race but the team were short of money and the season fell away to nothing. Despite his much loved personality and flair he was unable to get a drive in 1995.
In 1996 he moved to the PPG CART Series where he frequently performed well, only losing out to Jimmy Vasser in his first season. In 1997 he was to prove victorious and followed his first title with a second the year after. Formula One managers began to realise how good a driver he was, and in September 1998 it was announced that Zanardi would be driving for the Williams team in 1999. The team however has been struggling to recapture its dominant form of a few years ago, and Zanardi will struggle, even with his talent, to do well in 1999. He was sacked by Wiliams in February 2000 when the talents of Bruno Junqueira and Jenson Button came to their notice.
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