While Formula 1 isn’t an Olympic sport – though it would be something to see a Ferrari tearing around the Palace of Versailles – there have been F1 drivers that have excelled at the Games. Take Alex Zanardi for instance, a gold medal winner at both the London Paralympics in 2012 and then again in Rio four years later.
After driving in F1 from 1991 to 1994 and again in 1999, he headed for the US to race in the CART series before a terrible accident in 2001 meant the loss of both legs. Undaunted, following his recovery, Zanardi took up handcycling and turned himself into one of the best in the world.
Discussing the switch with Autosport in December 2012, Zanardi revealed that it wasn’t just his natural fitness that helped him excel in a whole new sport, but the engineering expertise that he had gathered during life in F1.
‘In two years I went from knowing nothing to winning two gold medals…I was able to put together the most from my training, out of the development of the bicycle, out of the equipment.’
You can read the full fascinating interview with Zanardi here.
