25 – Lucas di Grassi

Credit: Alastair Staley/LAT Photographic

Stats

• Birthday: 11th August 1984
• Nationality: Brazilian
• Lives:
• Website: lucasdigrassi.com.br

Career

Lucas’s career by year. The bracketed number is his final position at the end of the series.

• 2002 – Brazilian Formula Renault (2nd)
• 2003 – Formula 3 SudAmericana (2nd), Formula 3 Euroseries (21st)
• 2004 – British Formula 3 (8th)
• 2005 – Formula 3 Euroseries (3rd)
• 2006 – GP2 Series (17th)
• 2007 – GP2 Series (2nd)
• 2008 – GP2 Series (3rd)
• 2009 – GP2 Series (3rd)
• 2010 – Formula 1

2010 Preview

From the F1 Digest 2010 Season Preview:

Di Grassi has made the jump from Renault test driver to a race seat at Virgin, and finds himself teamed with his ex GP2 rival Timo Glock. The pair of them battled for the 2007 title, with Glock just pipping Lucas to the top. Our Brazilian went on to try for the championship twice more, but finished third in 2008 and 9. He’s had links with many F1 teams in the past, including the aforementioned Renault, he’s had a test for Honda, and drove for Campos in GP2. It was with Virgin that he got the final breakthrough for a drive, though, and who knows if he will regret that choice? So far, testing hasn’t worked out well for the team, although di Grassi has had more luck, and more laps, than Glock. He’s using the early part of the season as a way to really adapt to the car and the style of driving required. For the past two years, he says, he’s had only two and a half days in a car. Di Grassi and Glock seem to make a good team, a good-looking team, I would say, but it’ll be more about car reliability than driver skill in 2010.