FEBRUARY 16, 1998
Zanardi in demand for 1999
NO sooner has the wheeling and dealing for Formula 1 drives in 1998 stopped than negotiations have begun for 1999 with CART star Alex Zanardi admitting that he has already been contacted by Williams, Ferrari, Jordan and the new British American Racing.
Zanardi had a disappointing F1 career between 1991 and 1994 with Jordan (three races), Minardi (one race) and Lotus (21 races). He survived an extremely violent accident at Spa in 1993 but missed the remainder of the season as a result and was then left out of the team in 1994 because he did not have any financial backing. He only returned to Lotus after PedroÊLamy suffered serious leg injuries in the mid-season.
He turned to CART racing in 1996 with Target Chip Ganassi Racing as team-mate to Jimmy Vasser and took six pole positions and won three races to finish third in the series. Last year he won four more victories and took the title. There were serious discussions last autumn with Prost Grand Prix but Zanardi decided to stay in America and complete his three-year deal with Ganassi.
There is little doubt, however, that Alex would love to come back to F1 and that several teams would like to have him...