After being transferred to hospital, Zanardi underwent three hours of neurosurgery and maxillofacial surgery before being placed in a medically induced coma.

In 1989, Zanardi took two pole positions and three podiums despite his team's switching to unleaded fuel, which reduced his car's engine power.

[5] He later stated that in hindsight, he should have stayed on as the Benetton test driver as he would likely have been given a full-time drive for 1994 following Riccardo Patrese's retirement, where he would have been in a race-winning car alongside that year's world champion Michael Schumacher.

[7] Zanardi compared reasonably to teammate Johnny Herbert in 1993 and was important in fine-tuning the team's active suspension system, scoring his only F1 point at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

[5] Zanardi's season ended prematurely after he sustained a concussion as a result of a crash in practice for the Belgian Grand Prix.

However, Lotus struggled in its final season in F1 and Zanardi failed to score a single point or qualify higher than 13th.

Zanardi later raced at a four-hour event at Donington Park, where he and Alex Portman retired with eight minutes remaining despite leading by over a lap.

However, Reynard Commercial Director Rick Gorne managed to secure Zanardi a test drive at Homestead with Chip Ganassi Racing.

The team's race engineer Mo Nunn advised Chip against signing him, as he believed Italian drivers were too prone to mistakes.

Overall, he won three races in his rookie season and six pole positions, finishing third in the championship behind teammate Jimmy Vasser and Michael Andretti.

[5] Zanardi's CART success caught the attention of Sir Frank Williams, with whom he made contact in 1997, to inform them he would be available for contract negotiations if needed.

[12] In Australia, Zanardi was 9th quickest in the first free practice session but had limited track time due to reliability issues and traffic in qualifying meant he could only start 15th.

Moving on to Brazil, Zanardi once again experienced limited time on the track which was mainly due to engine issues.

Further time was lost when leaving the pit lane during a safety car period and receiving a stop-go penalty.

The penultimate round in Malaysia had seen Zanardi start from 16th with a first-lap collision that damaged his front rim with a pit-stop preventing better progress.

During the 2001 American Memorial at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz on 15 September 2001, Zanardi started from the back of the grid and was gaining the upper hand of the race.

[14] Zanardi lost both legs (one at and one above the knee) in the impact and nearly three-quarters of his blood volume, though rapid medical intervention saved his life.

[19] In 2004, Zanardi returned to racing full-time, driving for Roberto Ravaglia's BMW Team Italy-Spain in the FIA European Touring Car Championship.

[21][22] Zanardi returned to a Formula One car in late November 2006 at a testing session for BMW Sauber in Valencia, Spain.

[29] In 2018, he made a one-off appearance in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, driving a BMW M4 DTM in the Misano round of the series.

[33] Only 51 examples were ever built, and all were painted in the newly introduced New Formula Red Color Code: R-510 which subsequently replaced Formula Red Color Code: R-77 in all markets from 2000 onward, to reflect the colour of the car he drove for Chip Ganassi Racing.

[38] On 5 September 2012, Zanardi won a gold medal in the men's road time trial H4 at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London,[39][40] finishing 27.14 seconds ahead of Nobert Mosandi at Brands Hatch in Kent.

[41] Two days later, he won the individual H4 road race, ahead of Ernst van Dyk (South Africa) and Wim Decleir (Belgium), and then a silver medal for Italy in the mixed team relay H1-4 on 8 September 2012.

[51] On 22 September 2018, in a triathlon competition in Cervia, Italy, Zanardi broke the Ironman world record in the category of disabled people, with a time of 8:26'6.

[52] On 19 June 2020, Zanardi was involved in a serious accident while competing in the Obiettivo tricolore Italian national road race for paralympic athletes.

According to Gazzetta dello Sport, Zanardi was descending down a hill when he lost control of his handbike and veered into an oncoming truck, leading to severe facial and cranial trauma.

Emergency services attended the scene after other competitors helped to raise the alarm, and Zanardi was airlifted to the Santa Maria alle Scotte Hospital in Siena.

[54] In September 2020, it was reported that Zanardi was showing signs of interaction but that his condition remained "serious", and that he had undergone several surgeries to reconstruct his face.

[57][58] In December 2020, it was reported that Zanardi regained his sight and hearing; he could also respond non-verbally to questions and shake hands on demand.

[65][66] Zanardi wrote the opening chapters for the books of Steve Olvey, the former CART medical director, including, Rapid Response: My Inside Story as a Motor Racing Life Saver.