Paul di Resta

- Published on Dec 12th, 2010 by The Badger

Life Before F1
Success in karting was followed by a switch to single-seaters in 2003, when di Resta contested his native Formula Renault championship. He stepped up to the F3 Euro Series in 2005 and for 2006 landed a seat at ASM (now ART Grand Prix) as the replacement for champion Lewis Hamilton. di Resta picked up where Lewis left off, ultimately taking the title after a season-long battle with a young German by the name of Vettel.

However whilst Sebastian's next stop was a third driver role with BMW Sauber - and soon after  a race drive with Toro Rosso - di Resta found himself racing tin tops in 2007, joining Mercedes' DTM programme. His results were very quickly impressive, and following runner-up spot in 2008 and third place in 2009 di Resta was a very deserving champion in 2010 - just as his old rival Vettel was taking the honours in F1.

F1 Career
Following a run with Force India in late 2009 di Resta landed the role of third driver with the team for the 2010 campaign and, unlike most F1 reserves, actually did some running for the Silverstone-based squad. The Scotsman contested first practice at a number of Grand Prix throughout 2010, impressing the team with both his pace and technical feedback, and it soon became known that they were considering promoting him to a race seat for 2011. After a winter in which di Resta's ascension to a full-time F1 drive became the sport's worst kept secret the deal was finally confirmed on January 26th.