Highlights

BMW full of praise for Zanardi after F1 drive

(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-11-27 11:06

VALENCIA, Spain, Nov 26 - BMW team boss Mario Theissen praised Alex Zanardi after the 40-year-old Italian became the first double amputee to drive a Formula One car at the weekend.

"Alessandro felt comfortable from the word go, which has also been proved by his lap times," Theissen said after the former F1 driver's performance at the Valencia circuit on Saturday and Sunday.

"It's obvious that he is no Formula One newcomer. He has not forgotten how to drive a race car like this at the limit."

Zanardi, twice a CART champion and a former racer with Jordan, Minardi, Lotus and Williams in Formula One, had both legs amputated after nearly bleeding to death in a 320kph collision at Germany's Lausitzring in a CART race in September 2001.

Using hand controls, he made a remarkable comeback in the world touring car championship with BMW two years later and this weekend tested a modified version of their grand prix car.

"Overall, it was a fantastic weekend," he told Reuters.

Zanardi drove 12 laps on Saturday and a handful more on Sunday before an electrical problem halted the test in the afternoon.

He said he had felt better and better as he put the laps on the car and was moved by the team's reaction to him.

"I saw the attitude in every team member," said Zanardi, whose last Formula One race was the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka in 1999 with Williams.

"To see that I have won their enthusiasm, this is the best possible way."

BMW engineers moved the car's brake pedal from the left to right side of the car because Zanardi can generate more force with his right prosthesis, which was secured to the pedal with Velcro tape.

He accelerated and changed gear with paddles on the side of the steering wheel.

The Italian also used specially-fashioned artificial limbs, considerably smaller than the ones he uses to walk with, to fit snugly into the narrow cockpit.

"We couldn't improve the size of the tub (cockpit), so I said we can make my feet smaller. I'm the only driver on Earth who can do that," the Italian told Reuters.