Profile of ZANARDI for those unaware of him
1980-1987 - Italian kart Championship, debut at the age of 14.
For a period of eight years he continues with the karts becoming a very fast driver and winning three Italian Championship and one European Title
1988 - Italian Formula 3 Championship with Coperchini e Guareschi Team, 12th of the final standing
1989 - Italian F3 Championship with Racing for Italy Team, two 2nd places and two pole positions, 7th in the final standing
1990 - Italian F.3 Championship with RC Motorsport Team, two victories, two second and two third places. Winner of the European Championship 'Europe Cup' in Le Mans, polesitter of the Monaco F.3 Grand Prix
1991 - FIA F.3000 Championship with the Reynard-Mugen of the Team Barone Rampante , nine starts from the front row , one time from the third position , two victories and four second places in ten races .
Due to three mechanical failures he lost the run to the title won by Christian Fittipaldi by five points .
FIA Formula One World Championship with Jordan, last three Grand Prix of the season.
Winner of the prestigious "Casco d'Oro Tricolore " award from the italian weekly Autosprint, as the best italian driver of the year
1992 - Test driver for Benetton with the charge to develop the active suspension system.
FIA Formula One World Championship with Minardi, replacing for three Grands Prix the injured Christian Fittipaldi
1993 - FIA Formula One World Championship with Lotus, 6th place in the Brazilian GP, remarkable the race at Monaco in spite of a failure of the active suspension system
The season of Alessandro had a bad end due to a terrible accident happened at Spa .
1994 - FIA Formula One World Championship with Lotus, at first as test driver and then replacing from the Spanish GP the regular driver Pedro Lamy injured in a big accident during a testing session in Silverstone.
1995 - British Racing Production Championship, GT2 class with a Lotus Elise, one victory(Silverstone)
1996 - PPG Indycar World Series with Target - Chip Ganassi Racing, three victories, six pole positions, started from the first row of the grid in the last eight races of the season, in the lead 26 times with a total of 610 laps led, third in of the final standing with 132 points, winner of the Jim Trueman Rookie of the Year Award .
First place in the standing of the most points scored on road courses (117 in ten races).
Involved in the battle for the title until Vancouver when a doubled driver pushed him into the wall .
Into the racing history the memorable last lap pass over Bryan Herta at the Corkscrew in Laguna Seca.
1997 - PPG CART World Series champion with Target - Chip Ganassi Racing, five victories, three poles, 338 laps led and 17 times on the lead .
During the last eight events he obtained four victories, one second, one third and one fourth place.
He was not present at the last event at Fontana Superspeedway for the reason of two accidents during the practice, replaced by Arie Luyendyk.
Memorable the victory at Cleveland when after two penalties, he did a come back from over the 20th place, doing a great deal of overtakings .
Alessandro continued the streak started in 1996, obtaining the CART records for consecutive pole positions, six, and consecutive front-row starts, 11
1998 - CART FedEx Championship Series champion with Target - Chip Ganassi Racing, seven victories and 14 podiums (record for the CART Championship) but without any pole position
1999 - FIA Formula One World Championship with Team Williams, as best result the seventh place at Spa and at Monza
2000 - Alessandro decided for a so called "sabbatic year" to have more time to spend with the family .
In july a test with the Reynard of his friend Mo Nunn just to give an help to him, in November a rally inside the Autodromo di Monza
2001 - CART FedEx Championship Series with Mo Nunn Racing, as best result a fourth place at Toronto, 23rd of the final standing.
During the American Memorial on the Europeedway at Lausitziring (Germany) he suffered a terrible accident with the consequent loss of both the legs above the knee
2002 - The huge damage to the legs prevent him to return to the racing but, notwithstanding that, he takes part to a couple of races with a special kart, the first one at Montecarlo in October, the second one in Bologna (his birthplace) in December.
In July he flies to Toronto to visit his old american friends undertaken to race the Molson Indy Toronto, he will be asked to wave the start and the finish of the race.
2003 - A year and half later the huge accident, Alessandro returned at Lausitzring to drive a champ car for 13 laps, the same distance he was not able to complete during the race in 2001. In october he returned to race in an official race, the last event of the ETCC 2003 at the wheel of a modified BMW 320i of the BMW Team Italy Spain. At the end of the year the official news that Alessandro signed a contract to race the whole ETCC 2004 for BMW.