Home F1 Podcast: Zanardi on Benetton/Jordan drama, 2001 crash, Williams & more

Podcast: Zanardi on Benetton/Jordan drama, 2001 crash, Williams & more

20/06/2020

The new F1 Beyond the Grid podcast featured Alessandro Alex Zanardi as a guest, to discuss about his career, Benetton/Jordan signing, Williams time, accident, handcycling career and more.

The new F1 Beyond The Grid podcast had Zanardi in the hot seat with the interview undertaken before he met with an accident on Friday. Here’s more on that: https://formularapida.net/zanardi-admitted-to-hospital-after-handbike-accident/

Zanardi began the F1 podcast with discussing the elephant in the room, talking how the amputation of both of his legs after his CART crash in 2001 has changed his life.
The inspiring Italian also told of his incredible ambition when he was younger, which he admitted could occasionally be out of sync with his ability, especially in his youth.
Speaking on his F1 debut, he also talked about how he got caught in the middle of the Jordan/Benetton Michael Schumacher squabble in 1991, where both the teams had Zanardi as their back-up if they couldn’t get the German.
He told the full story of how he got a call the night before the 1991 Italian GP from Flavio Briatore, telling him to not pick up if Eddie Jordan called because Benetton wanted to sign him long-term, and how this left him debating whether to go with Jordan and make his debut tomorrow, or play the long game with Benetton, who were pressuring him in a series of angry phone calls.
In a hilarious anecdote, Zanardi explained that there was a significant mis-understanding at pretty much every step of the way in that entire F1 driver market drama.
Ultimately, he signed with Jordan at the Spanish GP that year, and inevitably he spoke on his debut and how tough it was to try to fill the shoes of the maestro, Schumacher.
Zanardi also had a hot take on Stefano Modena – a driver often forgotten, but also the on that he reckons is the most talented he ever raced against, ahead of even Ayrton Senna or Schumacher.
Speaking on his negotiations ahead of the 1992 F1 season, he shared some more anecdotes about how those went on between Jordan and the team’s sponsors to keep him, despite Zanardi being completely unaware of the talks.
He then covered his poor 1992 F1 season overall, and spoke on the chats he had with Benetton heading into 1993, and his stint as the team’s test driver that year, telling anecdotes of some sessions he did.
As history tells us, Zanardi went on to leave Benetton for Lotus abruptly, giving up what could have been the 1994 seat as Riccardo Patrese ultimately split from the outfit – this is something he revealed he still regrets, especially because Schumacher and Briatore advised him to stay.
One defining moment of his 1994 F1 season was his crash at Spa – something he says he doesn’t remember, but still feels the side-effects of to this day; he also talked about the Imola 1994 weekend.
Following chronological order, he also told of his time in IndyCar, and how his return to F1 came about.
He added that upon his return with Williams, he should have had more passion – something he feels could have changed things, before reflecting on the 1999 F1 season, and Ralf Schumacher’s pace.
Zanardi then went in-depth on his 2001 CART crash, telling that all doctors said he wouldn’t survive.
He then discussed his post-retirement handcycling career, before the podcast ended.