Paul di Resta

At 38 years old, Paul di Resta has this physical status:

Paul di Resta (born 16 April 1986) is a British racing driver who competed in Formula One from 2011 to 2013, and in 2016 he appeared in Williams F1 as a reserve driver.

di Resta, a former DTM and Formula 3 Euroseries champion, did not win a Formula One ride for 2014 and rejoined Mercedes in DTM.

Personal life

Di Resta, an Italian descendant, was born in Uphall, Scotland, and grew up in Bathgate, West Lothian. He is a former Bathgate Academy student and supports Celtic Football Club. He now lives in Monaco and is a cousin of racing drivers Dario and Marino Franchitti. Dougie McCracken, a Scottish footballer, was his stepfather. Stefan's younger brother has competed at an amateur level, and Jonathon, Jon's half-brother, is a goalkeeper for Norwich City U23's.

In December 2013, Di Resta and Laura Jordan got engaged and married on August 28, 2014.

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Career

He began his career in karting, competing in a number of competitive kart series from 1994 to 2002. He took the British JICA Championship in 2001.

At the end of 2002, he moved to single-seaters as he competed in the British Formula Renault Winter Series. In 2003, he raced for British Formula Renault full time, finishing seventh in the standings with just one race win. For 2004, he joined Manor Motorsport, finishing third in the championship standings with four wins. He has also participated in some Formula Renault 2.0 races with the Manor team. In 2004, he was also named in the McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award. In 1992, his cousin Dario Franchitti received the award.

In 2005, Di Resta joined Manor Motorsport in the Formula Three Euroseries, finishing tenth in the standings. He made the ASM Formula Three team for 2006, winning with five awards and defeating teammate and future Formula One World Drivers' Champion Sebastian Vettel. At Circuit Park Zandvoort, Di Resta also won the 2006 BP Ultimate Masters.

In 2007, di Resta converted from single-seaters to racing in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) touring car racing series for Mercedes. He came in 5th overall in the championship, behind drivers Mattias Ekstrom (who won his second DTM title), Bruno Spengler, Martin Tomczyk, and Jamie Green. Di Resta was the most popular driver in the standings to drive a non-2007 model. His appearances earned him a 2008 Mercedes C Klasse for his second season in which he won two races and finished second, four points behind eventual champion Timo Scheider of Audi. He came in third overall in 2009, behind Scheider and compatriot Gary Paffett. He won three races in a row on his way to winning the championship in 2010.

Di Resta was in the middle of the 2009 season for the Force India team, thanks to the teams' shared engine manufacturer, Mercedes-Benz. Force India, on the other hand, chose Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil, with Vitantonio Liuzzi as reserve driver.

Di Resta participated in a practice with the Jerez team in December 2009, with Fisichella having been promoted to Ferrari and Liuzzi being promoted to the race team. R. Hildebrand was also a participant in a competition. He was expected to be close to a contract as the team's test and reserve driver for the 2010 season at the Autosport International show in January 2010. The agreement was announced on February 2nd. Di Resta made his Formula One race debut at the 2010 Australian Grand Prix, where he appeared in the first free practice session in place of Sutil and finished 11th. He drove in the first practice session of all the following events before he missed out on the Monaco Grand Prix, where he did not participate. At the European Grand Prix and the subsequent British Grand Prix, he returned to drive for the team. He returned to the Hungarian Grand Prix after missing out on the German Grand Prix. Later, Di Resta dropped out of the Belgian Grand Prix as Tonio Liuzzi and Adrian Sutil needed as much track time as possible to get the feel of the new parts. He was in practice for the Italian Grand Prix but not in the Singapore or Japanese Grand Prix. Liuzzi and Sutil will be able to get used to the new track for the competition, but the team decided that di Resta should miss the Korean Grand Prix to allow Liuzzi and Sutil to get used to the new track for the sport.

For the 2011 season, Di Resta joined Adrian Sutil in the Force India Formula One racing team, replacing Vitantonio Liuzzi. After both Saubers were disqualified, he earned his first championship point in his first race, the Australian Grand Prix. A new place in Malaysia, 11th in China, was followed by a retirement in Turkey, where he left the pits with a loose wheel. He was fifth in Canada until a collision with Nick Heidfeld left him with a ruined car and a drive-through penalty, and he later dropped out of the competition on lap 67. He came in sixth at Silverstone but finished 15th after a long pitstop due to a tyre mix-up.

In Hungary, where he placed seventh in variable weather, his third points-scoring finish of the season came. He came in eighth place in the Italian Grand Prix, finishing eighth. This was followed by a career-best sixth-place finish in Singapore, ahead of teammate Sutil, who placed eighth. He finished tenth in Korea, ninth in Abu Dhabi, and eighth in Brazil.

Force India had announced on December 16, 2011 that he would be retained for the 2012 season, with Nico Hülkenberg replacing Sutil as his teammate. He qualified 15th in Australia for the season opener and finished 10th in the class, defeating Jean-Éric Vergne and Nico Rosberg on the final lap. He qualified for the Malaysian Grand Prix, finishing seventh overall and seventh in the wet category. He was the 12th in China. He qualified in Bahrain in the top ten after missing the second free practice session after many members of the team were caught up in a petrol bomb incident. He took sixth place in the campaign, his highest finish in his career, which tied his previous best result. He came 14th in Spain, a lap behind champion Pastor Maldonado; seventh in Monaco having started 15th on the grid; and 11th in Montreal. At the European Grand Prix, he was the only driver on the grid who executed a one-stop plan and finished 7th, though his teammate Nico Hülkenberg finished in 5th place, while his teammate, Nico Hülkenberg, finished in fifth place, while his teammate, Nico Hülkenberg, finished in fifth place.

After struggling to score a point in the next three races, Di Resta finished tenth in Belgium. The following weekend, di Resta demonstrated good speed in qualifying, posting the fourth fastest time in Q3, but the Grand Prix took the ninth pole grid penalty for a gearbox change. He came in eighth in the event. After the retirements of Maldonado and Hamilton, he finished sixth and placed a career-best fourth in the Singapore Grand Prix. Only one other points-scoring finish was achieved in the last five races of the season, earning him ninth place in Abu Dhabi.

Force India declared di Resta for the third straight season in 2013. Di Resta managed to advance to the top of the standings after qualifying outside of Australia's top ten, finishing just behind teammate Adrian Sutil in eighth place. Di Resta, the team's wheel nuts, remained jammed in Malaysia, and the team was eventually forced to scrap both vehicles.

Qualifying in 11th place for the Chinese Grand Prix, the series saw him finish in eighth place and gain four points.

Di Resta achieved his best result in Bahrain with a fourth position, being overtaken close to the end by Lotus' Romain Grosjean, depriving the Scot of his maiden podium. In Spain, he followed it up with a seventh.

After a bad qualifying session in the wet, Di Resta launched a two-stop plan, but luck played a role; the red flag allowed him to use a new set of tyres and finished ninth place with some good overtakes.

Di Resta's debut at the next race in Canada saw him start in 17th position, despite another frustrating qualifying session. Di Resta was able to run the longest of all drivers on his first stint, running 56 laps before finally coming to his first pit stop. As di Resta finished the race in seventh place, the tactic worked.

After six straight point finishes, di Resta had trouble in the later part of the season, when his team Force India struggled to cope with new Pirelli tyres and he suffered to achieve five consecutive retirements.

Force India would not be retained as a pilot for the 2014 season, according to a press release on December 12th.

di Resta returned to Formula One as the reserve driver for Williams after a two-year absence from the sport.

Despite competing for Mercedes in DTM, Williams kept di Resta as their reserve driver for 2017.

As the Brazilian recovered from an illness, he was accompanied by lead driver Felipe Massa for qualifying and the Hungarian Grand Prix. This was di Resta's first F1 race in almost four years, though Jenson Button was the first British driver for Williams since Jenson Button in 2000 and Scottish driver since David Coulthard in 1995. His qualifying results were described by Mercedes F1 Director Toto Wolff as a "unbelievable job" before the session, despite not having driven the FW40. He finished the day in 19th place ahead of Marcus Ericsson and was 0.666s off his colleague Lance Stroll. After 60 laps, he was disqualified from the sport.

After McLaren's departure from Formula One, di Resta returned to the sport as a reserve pilot for the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix at the Silverstone Circuit in Silverstone, United Kingdom.

When competing in the FIA World Endurance Championships, McLaren kept di Resta as a stand-in reserve driver for the 2021 and 2022 seasons.

Di Resta returned to the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters series in May 2014, where the AMG Mercedes team in Washington D. D. was headquartered. Di Resta finished the 2014 season in 15th place, despite scoring only three times, all three of whom were in fourth place.

After winning three races at Hungaroring, Brands Hatch, and Misano, Di Resta ended the 2018 season in third place in the driver's championship.

After five years as a Mercedes racer, di Resta joined R-Motorsport, a Swiss motor racing team, driving the Aston Martin Vantage DTM. Di Resta finished in 16th place in 16th place after scoring only four times.

Paul di Resta competed in the Asian Le Mans Series for United Autosports in 2018, winning one victory and four podiums alongside Philip Hanson, then championing the 2018-19 Asian Le Mans Series championship.

Di Resta and United Autosport competed in the 2019-20 FIA World Endurance Championship, winning the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans with Hanson and Filipe Albuquerque, earning 5th overall and fifth overall in the LMP2 Class.

Peugeot Sport revealed di Resta would drive their LMH Hypercar entry in the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship on February 8, 2021.

Since 2016, Di Resta has been a regular contributor to the Sky Sports F1 channel. He appears as a co-commentator, analyst, and one of the insiders of "Sky Race Control" during workouts, qualifying sessions, and races with Jenson Button, Karun Chandhok, Anthony Davidson, Damon Hill, Nico Rosberg, and Johnny Herbert.

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