Quotes from Alex Zanardi

First time you step on these new legs, it's bloody hard. It's painful on your pelvic bones. But every day I get more of a feel for where my feet are.

I try to, pardon the expression, stay with my feet on the ground.

My never-say-never attitude has helped me a lot. That's why after a short period after the accident, I'm capable of doing almost everything on my own.

I have a little bit of a big head.

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

I got into hand-cycling to prove to myself that I could do it and get back into some form of competition, and now it's led to this. If someone had suggested a few years ago that I would be taking it to the Ironman, I would have asked them what they were smoking.

I don't think of myself as Superman, but if a genie came up to me now and granted me a wish to take my legs back, for sure I would take them - but it would take some time to accept.

After my crash I never doubted it would be hard but I would be lying to say this new life has been a surprise to me.

The perfect life is the combination of great moments and bad ones, and under that point of view, my life is fantastic, because I've certainly hit more than one bump.

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.

I'm just a very curious guy who has a lot of possibility.

The first time the doctors put on my prosthetic legs they made me much taller than I'd ever been. I then remember the doctor saying 'we need to shorten this man' and we all were in hysterics.

I've certainly had many more opportunities than I deserved, but luckily enough I ended up making the right choices.

The important thing in life, not just in sports, is to be able to set a new target in front of you, which is very much related to the deck of cards you've got available.

My accident was the result of incredible fate, with me spinning in a place I shouldn't have, with a car coming at a speed it shouldn't have, and hitting me with the sharpest and strongest thing that it has, which is the nose, in the most vulnerable part of the car, which is between the side part and the front wheel.

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.

There are times I'm approaching turns with my right hand on the brake lever, I'm downshifting with my fingers, I'm controlling the throttle with my left hand and steering into the corner with only one hand on the wheel. I feel a bit like Jimi Hendrix: I play with both my hands.

I feel very lucky, I feel my life is a never-ending privilege.

Never say never, always try to see if there is an opportunity to go around the problem if you can't go across it.

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

Everything you do tends to make you accomplish another step on the road to complete yourself.

The trust the BMW family puts in me means a lot to me.

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