Alex Zanardi

“The memories are vague of the accident. I remember coming out of the pitlane with cruise control, letting it go and then losing control of the car. I remember my hands frantically operating the steering wheel trying to recover control of the car, then this big, big noise and nothing more.”

“I have always had a very smooth driving style. But when I started competing as a disabled driver, I had to take that even more to the extreme.”

“I know that I am a lucky guy. I know that after an accident like the one I had, you know, only one guy out of a thousand can really go back home and still live. And I am that one. So I am totally aware of that.”

“Your trip in this life is very provisional, but the best thing you can do in your life to live in the right way is to take every day as a great opportunity to do what you can and when you're as lucky as I have been in life in getting so much attention and exposure, you learn that you can move mountains with a very small effort.”

“When I first climbed into a go-kart, aged 13, I thought to myself: 'This is what I want to do with my life, and I want to drive F1.'”

“My wife has always been positive. In the hospital my brother-in-law was trying to prepare her for the worst, but she said, 'Hold on, I don't want to hear that. He'll be all right. I'm going to ring BMW now and order a car with manual controls because the first thing he'll want to do when he leaves hospital is drive.' She knew her husband!”

“I believe the perfect life is the right combination between great things, great success and stupid mistakes or failures.”

“Losing my legs was one of the greatest opportunities of my life.”

“I feel gifted for having the opportunity to compete in Daytona.”

“I'm no different from other drivers - my talent is in my brain, not in my right foot.”

“I haven't wasted many opportunities that fate gave me.”

“I shouldn't have survived that accident. Science didn't give me a single chance. I basically survived for about 50 minutes with less than one liter of blood. Science says that's simply impossible.”

“In comparison to an able-bodied person, it's incredible, the amount of extra resistance I have, in comparison to an able body.”

“It makes me feel great when I'm driving and talking to my wife, and I look in the mirror, and my son is sleeping in the back.”

“You only recognize how good something is if you've been through the bad.”

“I am very proud to become a BMW Brand Ambassador. BMW is like a second family, and over the past years we not only enjoyed great times together at the track, but we have also become close friends.”

“The U.S. is where I was given the greatest opportunity to turn my life from a very nice one to an exceptional one.”

“After I finished racing in the United States, I received a lot of criticism for being dangerous, a little bit stupid, insane, you name it.”

“Having no legs doesn't mean you can't drive fast and I wasn't going to be happy scoring the odd point. I thought it was possible to win and went for it.”

“For me just the fact to be alive is sufficient motivation to want to improve my life quality.”