British Formula Renault
What sport did Paul di Resta participate from 2003 to 2004?
Paul di Resta Paul di Resta ( born 16 April 1986 ) is a British racing driver from Scotland who currently drives in the FIA World Endurance Championship with United Autosports . He drove in Formula One for Force India from to , and became a reserve driver for the Williams F1 team in , driving a single race for them as a substitute driver in . A former Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters ( DTM ) and Formula 3 Euroseries champion , di Resta did not secure a Formula One drive for 2014 , and rejoined Mercedes to race again in DTM . He is currently the reserve F1 driver for McLaren for the 2021 season . Personal life . Di Resta is of Italian descent and was born in Uphall , Scotland , and grew up in Bathgate , West Lothian . He is a former pupil of Bathgate Academy and supports Celtic Football Club . He now lives in Monaco , and is a cousin of racing drivers Dario and Marino Franchitti . His step-father was Scottish footballer Dougie McCracken . His younger brother , Stefan , has raced at an amateur level and his half-brother , Jon , is a goalkeeper for the Norwich City u23s . Di Resta and Laura Jordan became engaged in December 2013 and married on 28 August 2014 . Career . Karting . He started his career in karting , racing in various competitive series of karts from 1994 until 2002 . In 2001 he won the British JICA Championship . Formula Renault . He stepped up to single-seaters at the end of 2002 , when he competed in the British Formula Renault Winter Series . He raced in British Formula Renault full-time in 2003 with the Eurotek Motorsport team , finishing seventh in the standings with one race win . He switched to Manor Motorsport for 2004 , finishing third in the championship standings with four wins . He also entered some races of Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 with the Manor team . He also won the McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of The Year Award in 2004 . The award had been won by his cousin Dario Franchitti in 1992 . Formula Three . Di Resta switched to the Formula Three Euroseries with Manor Motorsport in 2005 , finishing tenth in the standings . For 2006 he moved to the ASM Formule 3 team , winning the championship with five wins , beating teammate and future Formula One World Drivers Champion , Sebastian Vettel . Di Resta also won the 2006 BP Ultimate Masters at Circuit Park Zandvoort . DTM . In 2007 , di Resta switched from single-seaters to race in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters ( DTM ) touring car racing series , for Mercedes . In the championship , he finished 5th overall behind drivers Mattias Ekstrom ( who won his second DTM title ) , Bruno Spengler , Martin Tomczyk and Jamie Green . Di Resta was the highest driver in the standings to drive a non-2007 car . His performances earned him a 2008 Mercedes C Klasse for the 2008 season , in which he won two races and finished second in the points , four points behind eventual champion Timo Scheider of Audi . In 2009 , he finished third overall behind Scheider and compatriot Gary Paffett . In 2010 , he won three races in a row on the way to winning the championship . Formula One . Di Resta tested for the McLaren Formula One team , and was in the frame for a drive with the Force India team for the 2009 season due to the teams shared engine supplier , Mercedes-Benz . However , Force India chose to retain Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil , with Vitantonio Liuzzi as reserve driver . Force India ( 2010–2013 ) . 2010 . In December 2009 , with Fisichella having moved to Ferrari and Liuzzi being promoted to the race team , di Resta took part in a test with the team at the Jerez circuit alongside J . R . Hildebrand . At the Autosport International show in January 2010 , he was said to be close to a deal as the teams test and reserve driver for the 2010 season . The deal was announced on 2 February . Di Resta made his Formula One race meeting début at the 2010 Australian Grand Prix , where he took part in the first free practice session in place of Sutil and finished 11th . He drove in the first practice session of all the following races until the Monaco Grand Prix where he did not take part . He resumed driving for the team at the European Grand Prix and the following British Grand Prix . After sitting out the German Grand Prix he returned for the Hungarian Grand Prix . Di Resta subsequently sat out the Belgian Grand Prix as Tonio Liuzzi and Adrian Sutil needed as much track-time as possible to get the feeling of the new parts . He participated in practice for the Italian Grand Prix , but did not participate in the Singapore or Japanese Grands Prix . The team elected that di Resta should miss the Korean Grand Prix to allow Liuzzi and Sutil to get used to the new track for the race . 2011 . Di Resta joined Adrian Sutil in the Force India Formula One racing team for the season , replacing Vitantonio Liuzzi . He scored his first championship point at his first race , the , after both Saubers were disqualified . This was followed by another 10th place in Malaysia , 11th in China , and a retirement in Turkey , where he left the pits with a loose wheel . He was running fifth in Canada until a collision with Nick Heidfeld left him with a damaged car and a drive-through penalty , and later crashed out of the race on lap 67 . He qualified sixth at Silverstone but finished 15th after a long pitstop due to a tyre mix-up . His third points-scoring finish of the season came in Hungary , where he finished seventh in changeable conditions . In the he finished 8th . This was followed by a career-best sixth-place finish in Singapore , ahead of teammate Sutil , who finished eighth . He finished tenth in Korea , ninth in Abu Dhabi and eighth in Brazil . 2012 . On 16 December 2011 , it was announced that he was to be retained by Force India for the 2012 season , with Nico Hülkenberg taking the place of Sutil as his teammate . He qualified 15th for the season opener in Australia and finished 10th in the race , passing Jean-Éric Vergne and Nico Rosberg on the final lap . He qualified 14th for the , and finished seventh in the wet race . He was 12th in China . In Bahrain he qualified inside the top ten , having missed the second free practice session after several members of the team were caught up in a petrol bomb incident . Using a two-stop strategy he took sixth place in the race , which equalled his previous career-best result . He was 14th in Spain , a lap behind winner 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 performed a one-stop strategy and came 7th whilst his teammate , Nico Hülkenberg , finished in 5th position . After failing to score a point in the next three races , di Resta finished tenth in Belgium . The following weekend , at the Italian Grand Prix , di Resta showed strong pace in qualifying , setting the fourth fastest time in Q3 , but took a five place grid penalty for a gearbox change to start the Grand Prix in ninth . He finished the race in eighth . At the Singapore Grand Prix , he qualified sixth and finished a career-best fourth , after the retirements of Maldonado and Hamilton . The final five races of the season resulted in only one further points-scoring finish – 9th place in Abu Dhabi . 2013 . On 31 January 2013 , Force India confirmed di Resta would race for the team for a third consecutive season in . After qualifying outside the top ten in Australia , di Resta managed to battle through into the points , finishing just behind his teammate , Adrian Sutil in eighth place . In Malaysia , however di Resta retired after his cars wheel nuts kept jamming , and the team was ultimately forced to retire both cars . Qualifying in 11th place for the Chinese Grand Prix , the race saw him finish in eighth place and he obtained four points . Di Resta matched his career best result in Bahrain with a fourth place , being overtaken close to the end by Lotuss Romain Grosjean , depriving the Scot of a maiden podium . He followed that up with a seventh in Spain . A disappointing qualifying session in the wet meant di Resta started from 17th in Monaco , however initially going for an aggressive two stop strategy ; luck played its part and due to a red flag he was able to use a new set of tyres , and made ground to ninth-place finish with some good overtakes . Another disappointing qualifying session at the next race in Canada saw di Resta starting in 17th position yet again . Starting on the harder medium compound tyre , di Resta was able to run the longest of all drivers on his first stint , going 56 laps before finally making his only pit stop . The strategy worked as di Resta finished the race in 7th . After six consecutive point finishes , di Resta struggled in the later part of the season as his team Force India struggled to cope with new Pirelli tyres and he recorded five consecutive retirements . On 12 December , it was announced that he would not be retained as a driver with Force India for the season . Williams ( 2016–2017 ) . 2016 . After a two-year absence from the sport , di Resta returned to Formula One as reserve driver for Williams . 2017 . Williams retained di Resta as their reserve driver for 2017 whilst he competed for Mercedes in DTM . He replaced lead driver Felipe Massa for qualifying and the race at the as the Brazilian recovered from an illness . This marked di Restas first F1 start in almost four years , whilst also becoming the first British driver for Williams since Jenson Button in and Scottish driver since David Coulthard in . His qualifying results were described as an unbelievable job by Mercedes F1 Director Toto Wolff , having competed without having driven the FW40 prior to the session . He ended the day in 19th place ahead of Marcus Ericsson and was 0.766s off his teammate Lance Stroll . He retired in the race after 60 laps . DTM return ( 2014–2019 ) . In 2014 di Resta returned to Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters series driving for Mercedes . Di Resta finished the season in 15th place having scored points only three times , all three being 4th-place finishes . Endurance Racing ( 2019-present ) . In 2018 , Paul di Resta raced in the Asian Le Mans Series for United Autosports , scoring one win and 4 podiums alongside Philip Hanson and eventually winning the 2018-19 Asian Le Mans Series championship . Following their Asian Le Mans Series win , Di Resta and United Autosport competed in the 2019-20 FIA World Endurance Championship going onto to win the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans alongside Hanson and Filipe Albuquerque in the LMP2 Class and gaining 5th overall . Broadcasting career ( 2016–present ) . Sky Sports F1 ( 2016–present ) . Since 2016 , Di Resta has been a regular contributor to the Sky Sports F1 channel . He is a common presence as one of the insiders in Sky Race Control during practices , qualifying sessions and races , alongside Anthony Davidson , Damon Hill , Nico Rosberg , and Johnny Herbert . As of 2018 , he is also the backup analyst for races , filling in for Martin Brundle when Brundle is unavailable . Racing record . Career summary . – As di Resta was a guest driver , he was ineligible to score points . Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters results . Driver did not finish , but was classified as he completed 90% of the race distance . Complete Formula One results . Driver failed to finish the race , but was classified as he had completed more than 90% of the race distance . External links . - Paul di Resta career statistics at Driver Database - Official website