The start of the new 2011 Formula 1 season saw the emergence of a new talent in the Formula 1 arena. Yes, we are talking about last year’s DTM champion and Force India’s current driver Paul di Resta. The young man from Uphall, West Lothian, UK is considered as the most talented rookie of this 2011 season. Di Resta has joined the elite line of Scottish Formula 1 drivers which includes Formula One World Champions Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart and David Coulthard.
The Scotsman was born in 1986 and grew up in Uphall, West Lothian, UK. Paul form a very early age started Karting and proved that he is fast enough to compete in the single seater category. During that very period Di Resta started winning National and European Karting races. He won a series of Scottish, National and European titles in the early stage of his motorsports career. Till 2001-02 Paul competed in the Karting races only, but during this period he proved that he is fast enough to compete in the single seater category.
Di Resta graduated from Karting to single seater category in 2002 where he competed in the UK Formula Renault Winter Series. After his impressive showing in that period Di Resta got the permanent berth for the 2003 season. Paul continued to compete in the UK Formula Renault Championship and registered four wins and finished on third position in 2004 championship.
Paul impressed the motorsports audience after his impressive show in the Formula Renault Championship after that in 2005 he moved to F3 Euroseries. He finished his F3 debut season at 10th place behind Lewis Hamilton, who would then go on to achieve bigger things in F1. After his average first season Paul converted his second season into a big one by registering five wins and four podiums during that period and also captured the championship. Paul totally outclassed his teammate and current Formula 1 champion Sebastian Vettel.
In an interview when Vettel was asked which driver he wants to see on a F1 grid, he said without a doubt: ‘Paul Di Resta’. He also added that he was wondering why he has not got a berth with any of the outfits.
After his amazing season at F3 Paul got the backing of Mercedes Benz with whose support and backing he made a move to DTM championship in 2007. Paul impressed everyone in his debut season and rightly so because he finished 5th overall in the standings by capturing four podium places. This is not the only amazing thing that the talented Paul did, the most amazing thing was that he was driving the two year old car of tin-top racing. By doing that, he impressed everyone and showed what wonders he was capable of.
Early beginnings
In 2008 Paul also got full Mercedes drive work and with that he continued in the DTM category. Despite his impressive show in that category was not able to win the championship. He finished second with five second places and two race wins.
With the impressive two years in DTM and the backing from Mercedes that he had, Paul was all set to debut with the Silverstone based outfit ‘Force India’ in 2009. Force India signed the engine deal with Mercedes and with that help Paul was all set for a driver’s seat, but what worked against him was that Force India retained both their drivers Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella for the 2009 season and also Tonio Liuzzi as their reserve. This meant Di Resta was pushed to the background despite making the big leap.
Patience is a virtue and top talent never goes unnoticed. This was the case with Paul who didn’t have to wait long for getting a taste of a Formula 1 car as Giancarlo Fisichella moved to Ferrari and Tonio graduated to a race position in Force India. This meant that Di Resta got the job of test driver in 2010 for Force India Formula 1 team. After getting the test driver’s role he began to test the Force India car in the Friday practice sessions in 2010. He competed in Australia, Malaysia, China, Spain and Silverstone Friday Practice sessions for Force India, slowly climbing the ladder and making his mark.
Testing the Force India F1 car was not all the Scotsman did in the 2010 season as he also captured the DTM title in the very same season which saw him graduate to a racer seat for Force India in the 2011 season.
In the 2011 season, the big move happened as Di Resta joined forces with Adrian Sutil as Force India’s driver. He had an impressive start to a season when he scored his maiden points in the Formula 1 on his debut race at Melbourne. He finished at 10th place and he further scored points for the team in the very next Malaysian GP maintained his decent run of form.
In a career which has just started to blossom, Paul has impressed everyone in the Formula 1 grid. He has totally out paced his team mate Adrian Sutil, who is the star driver for the Indian team and has thus made his mark on the grid. So far in the 2011 season, he is the only Force India driver to have made a Q3 appearance despite being the junior driver. Such is his talent which is blossoming at full speed. Here is hoping that he continues to make waves on the F1 circuit and move to greater things.
