The Scottish driver who raced for Force India and Williams in Formula One, won the DTM and later took LMP2 honours at Le Mans.
Scottish driver di Resta won the DTM in 2010 and then raced in Formula One from 2011 to 2017, mainly for Force India. He also won the Asian Le Mans Series in 2018-19 and the LMP2 class at Le Mans in 2020.
Paul di Resta is a British racing driver and broadcaster from Scotland. He competed in Formula One from 2011 to 2017 with Force India and later with Williams, and he has since raced in the World Endurance Championship for Peugeot. He is also a former DTM and Formula 3 Euro Series champion.
Who is Paul di Resta?
Born on 16 April 1986 in Uphall, West Lothian, di Resta grew up in Bathgate. He is of Italian descent and was a pupil of Bathgate Academy. He supports Celtic and now lives in Monaco.
He is a cousin of the racing drivers Dario and Marino Franchitti. His younger brother Stefan has raced at amateur level, and his half-brother Jon is a goalkeeper for Dundee.
He became engaged to Laura Jordan in December 2013, and the couple married in August 2014.
A Scottish DTM champion whose Formula One career was built around Force India, with career-best results at Singapore.
How did di Resta start in motorsport?
Di Resta started his career in karting. He raced karts in various series between 1994 and 2002, winning the British JICA Championship in 2001. Those karting years preceded his move into single-seaters.
He moved to single-seaters at the end of 2002, when he took part in the British Formula Renault Winter Series. In 2003 he raced full-time in British Formula Renault with Eurotek and finished seventh overall with one win.
In 2004 he switched to Manor Motorsport, finishing third overall with four wins. He also raced some rounds of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 with the Manor team. That season he won the McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year award.
The award had been won in 1992 by his cousin Dario Franchitti,.
How did di Resta perform in Formula 3 and the DTM?
In 2005 di Resta moved to the Formula 3 Euroseries with Manor Motorsport and finished tenth overall. For 2006 he joined ASM Formule 3, and he won the championship with five wins.
His ASM team-mate that year was the future Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel, and di Resta beat him to the title. He also won the 2006 BP Ultimate Masters at Zandvoort.
In 2007 di Resta switched from single-seaters to the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters with Mercedes. He finished fifth overall and was the highest-placed driver in the standings in a car that was not from the 2007 model year.
In 2008 he finished second overall with two wins, four points behind Timo Scheider. In 2009 he was third overall behind Scheider and Gary Paffett.
In 2010 he won three straight races and took the DTM title. That title came in the same year he joined Force India as a test and reserve driver.
He returned to the DTM in 2018, finishing third overall with three wins. In 2019 he joined R-Motorsport in an Aston Martin Vantage DTM and finished 16th overall.
How did di Resta's Formula One career begin?
Di Resta tested for the McLaren Formula One team, and he was in contention for a drive with Force India for 2009. Force India instead kept its existing drivers.
In December 2009 he took part in a test with Force India at Jerez. In February 2010 the team confirmed him as its test and reserve driver for the season.
His first Formula One weekend came at the 2010 Australian Grand Prix, with a first-practice appearance that ended in 11th place.
How did di Resta's reserve roles work?
Di Resta's reserve roles came at several teams. He tested for McLaren early in his career, and Force India made him its test and reserve driver for 2010, a role confirmed in February of that year.
He returned to Formula One as a Williams reserve driver in 2016, after two years out of the sport. Williams kept him in that role for 2017.
From 2020 to 2022 he was McLaren's reserve driver, which kept him close to the Formula One paddock while he raced in sportscars.
What did di Resta achieve with Force India?
Force India was his main Formula One base from 2011 to 2013, and the team's line-up gave him a consistent team-mate pairing across those seasons.
Di Resta joined Adrian Sutil at Force India for 2011. He scored his first championship point at the Australian Grand Prix, after both Saubers were disqualified.
At Silverstone in 2011 he qualified sixth but finished 15th after a tyre mix-up. At Monaco in 2012 he started 15th and finished seventh.
At Singapore in 2011 he finished sixth, a career best at that point.
For 2012 Nico Hulkenberg was his team-mate. He finished fourth at Singapore in 2012, a career best.
He finished eighth at the Italian Grand Prix after a gearbox penalty.
How did the 2013 season end for di Resta at Force India?
Force India kept di Resta for 2013. He matched his career-best result with a fourth place in Bahrain, and he followed it with a seventh place in Spain.
Force India struggled with the new Pirelli tyres later in the year, and di Resta recorded five consecutive retirements. In December 2013 the team announced that he would not be retained for 2014.
How did di Resta return to the DTM and Formula One?
Di Resta returned to the DTM with HWA in 2014. He finished the 2014 season 15th overall, with three fourth-place finishes.
In 2016 he returned to Formula One as a reserve driver for Williams, after a two-year absence from the sport.
In 2017 he stepped in for Felipe Massa at the Hungarian Grand Prix. It was his first start in four years. It was his first start in four years, and he qualified 19th ahead of Marcus Ericsson before retiring after 60 laps.
After that he returned to the sport as a McLaren reserve driver from 2020 to 2022,.
What did di Resta do in endurance racing?
Di Resta's sportscar career ran alongside his Formula One years, and his first major Le Mans result came in 2020, a class win rather than an overall victory.
In 2018 he competed in the Asian Le Mans Series with United Autosports. The pair won the 2018-19 Asian Le Mans Series championship.
After that success, di Resta and United Autosports competed in the 2019-20 World Endurance Championship. They won the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans in the LMP2 class.
In 2022 Peugeot Sport revealed that di Resta would drive its LMH hypercar in the World Endurance Championship. He finished fourth at Fuji that season and ended the championship tenth in the drivers' standings.
How did di Resta's broadcasting career work?
From 2016 he was a regular contributor to Sky Sports F1, appearing during practice, qualifying and races.
Sky Sports dropped him in January 2023, ending a run on the channel that began in 2016.
Formula One and DTM results at a glance
| Series | Season | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Formula 3 Euroseries | 2006 | Champion with ASM, five wins |
| DTM | 2010 | Champion, three straight wins |
| Formula One | 2011 | First point at Australia, sixth at Singapore |
| Formula One | 2012 | Fourth at Singapore, a career best |
| Formula One | 2013 | Fourth in Bahrain, seventh in Spain |
| DTM | 2014 | 15th overall, three fourth places |
| Formula One | 2017 | Replaced Felipe Massa at Hungary, 19th in qualifying |
| Asian Le Mans Series | 2018-19 | Champion with United Autosports |
| 24 Hours of Le Mans | 2020 | LMP2 class win with United Autosports |
What is di Resta's record?
Di Resta's record spans single-seaters, touring cars, sportscars and broadcasting. He won titles in Formula 3, the DTM and the Asian Le Mans Series, and he won the LMP2 class at Le Mans.
His career-best Formula One results came at Singapore in 2011 and 2012, and his fourth place in Bahrain in 2013 matched his best result at that point.
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