Lucas Di Grassi: Formula One career highlights
Born on August 11th, 1984 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Lucas Di Grassi is yet another rising force from amongst the burgeoning plethora of aspiring Latin American youth swarming today’s Formula One paddocks in the hope of emulating the exploits of its predecessors. Not far from convention, Lucas Di Grassi chose to kick-start his race driving career with a stint at kart racing and made the necessary progression from home to foreign competition in due time.
After grabbing the fifth position at the Formula A world championship in 2000, Di Grassi finally made headlines on the world platform and immediately set about searching for an opportunity that would help him advance to racing in single-seaters. The transition did not take place immediately, however, and after a prolonged delay of almost two years, Di Grassi finally managed to reserve a race seat with South America Formula Three series in 2003. The Brazilian did not let down and surpassed his own expectations after ending runner-up in the aggregate rankings.
The following year Di Grassi continued his thriving campaign by signing up for Renault’s young driver project. The move would instigate his travel to Britain where he joined ranks with the Hitech squad to compete in the coveted British Formula Three series. Despite having to abandon the race on some six occasions, Di Grassi nevertheless managed to salvage two victories and 130 points before ending up eighth in the overall standings. Undaunted by compatriot Nelson Piquet junior’s championship winning performances that season, Di Grassi proceeded to participate in the Formula Three Grand Prix in Macau and took the third position behind Poland’s Robert Kubica and France’s Alexandre Premat.
The Brazilians solid showmanship at the renowned Macau circuit proved sufficient in rousing the curiosity of team Manors John Booth who trusted Di Grassi with a race seat to contest the 2005 F3 Euro series. His employers gamble paid off when Di Grassi put on some assured performances that saw him finish third behind the team ASM duo Lewis Hamilton and Adrian Sutil. The Latin American also savored his first go at a Formula One car the same year while analyzing a Renault creation.
Hoping to build on last year’s success, Di Grassi once again travelled to Macau in 2005, this time battling it out with team Manor. The Brazilian got what he had hoped for and won the coveted title after brilliantly outpacing Kubica and current Red Bull front-man Sebastian Vettel. An ecstatic Booth relisted Di Grassi’s services, this time to contest the F1 Virgin competition. It was a process that would see the South American follow in the footsteps of veteran drivers like Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher and David Coulthard. Having finally come into his own, the raring Brazilian decided time was ripe to consolidate his burgeoning reputation further and in 2006 he embarked on a switch to the freshly inaugurated Formula One GP2 feeder series.
Di Grassi’s move did not prove as smooth he had expected and the frustrated Brazilian found himself persistently outperformed by his longtime competitors Lewis Hamilton, Nelson Piquet Junior and Alexandre Premat who managed to reserve the top three places all for themselves. However, the South American was not willing to give up so easily and decided to extend his stay in the competition for a second season. Transferring loyalties to the prevailing champions ART, Di Grassi managed to impress his worth by finishing second, trailing 11 points behind his current Virgin teammate Timo Glock. Yet the Brazilian’s achievements proved insufficient in landing him a Formula One first choice race drive and he had to suffice with a substitute position at Renault behind Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet.
With his hopes for a race seat at Renault being dashed repeatedly, Di Grassi kept his racing mettle up to the mark by regularly competing in the GP2 series where he enjoyed several considerably solid performances over the next few years. Snubbed yet again for the Renault race drive in 2009, this time losing out to the less experienced Frenchman Romain Grosjean, Di Grassi knew it was the appropriate moment to call time on his substitute role for the French team and he signed up with Virgin alongside longtime rival Timo Glock for the 2010 season.
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