Lucas di Grassi

Lucas Tucci di Grassi (born 11 August 1984) is a Brazilian professional racing driver who is set to compete in the FIA Formula E World Championship for ABT CUPRA.

Di Grassi was born on 11 August 1984 in São Paulo, Brazil.

He is of Italian descent through his grandfather who came from Polignano a Mare.

Di Grassi's family did not have a background in motor racing but his uncle owned a go-kart shop and di Grassi visited him driving go-karts every weekend between the ages of seven and eight.

He was educated at the local Santa Cruz High School and later went on to graduate with a degree in Economics after his second year at the private business university Ibmec.

He won a karting series in São Paulo in 1997, and continued to progress upwards through the South American karting series by winning several races in his native country.

The peak of di Grassi's karting career came in 2000 when he placed fifth overall in the Formula A World Championship.

That year, he won the Pan American Kart Championship.

He progressed to car racing in 2002 and was the runner up in the Formula Renault 2.0 Brazil and Formula 3 Sudamericana championships.

Di Grassi made his car racing debut in 2002, driving in the Formula Renault 2.0 Brazil, finishing the season with two victories, and placed seven points behind the series victor Sérgio Jimenez.

In 2003, he switched to the Formula 3 Sudamericana and joined the Avellone team.

Di Grassi took one victory and stood on the podium eleven times, en route to second in the championship, behind the more experienced Danilo Dirani, despite missing the season's final six races due to him injuring his neck in an accident he sustained in Curitiba.

Di Grassi took two consecutive victories in the 2004 British Formula Three Championship and progressed to the Euro Series the following year which saw him clinch a solitary race victory and was the winner of the non-championship Macau Grand Prix.

He elected to move to the United Kingdom in 2004 so he could take part in the British Formula Three Championship with Hitech Racing.

Di Grassi won both races at the Thruxton meeting but the remainder of the season was difficult for him and could only muster eighth in the final standings in spite of good qualifying performances.

He was invited to race in the season-ending Macau Grand Prix and came third.

Di Grassi graduated to the Formula 3 Euro Series in 2005 with Manor Motorsport but started the season with a major accident at the Hockenheimring where he attempted to pass Giedo van der Garde but clipped the latter's rear-left wheel.

He launched into the air and rolled several times before resting in the tyre barrier.

Di Grassi recovered to have a solid season and took a lights-to-flag victory at the Oschersleben and came third in the championship.

He took a third-place finish at the Masters of Formula 3, and won the end-of-the season Macau Grand Prix from third on the grid by passing Robert Kubica shortly after a safety car restart in the closing stages of the event.

2006 brought di Grassi to the next stage of his career as he entered the GP2 Series support series with the unsuccessful Durango team and was partnered by the Spanish driver Sergio Hernández.

While his local rival Nelson Piquet Jr.. battled Lewis Hamilton for the championship, di Grassi struggled with a noncompetitive car and could only muster eight points throughout the course of the season.

After that, he spent the next three years in the GP2 Series where he won four races and finished the runner-up in 2007 to Timo Glock.

He founded the fuel conservation non-governmental organisation Smarter Driving in 2007 and was appointed the United Nations Environment Programme's clean air ambassador in 2018.

Di Grassi partakes in triathlons to maintain his fitness and balance his racing career.

He is also a member of the high IQ society Mensa.

In addition to his native Portuguese, he is fluent in English, Italian, Spanish, and has basic knowledge of French.

Upon the invitation of his father, Vito, the former vice-president of the Brazilian heavy vehicles manufacturer Engesa, di Grassi made his karting debut at the age of ten.

He raced in Formula 1 in 2010 for Virgin Racing after 2 years as reserve driver.

Born in São Paulo, di Grassi began racing karts at the age of ten, and achieved early success in the regional and later national kart series.

Di Grassi drove in Formula One with the Virgin Racing team in 2010 but was dropped for the following season.

He was subsequently employed by Pirelli in mid-2011 as their official tyre tester and developed the company's next generation of tyres.

Di Grassi continued this role into 2012.

Di Grassi married the designer Bianca Diniz Caloi in a ceremony held in the São Paulo municipality of Itirapina on 1 December 2013.

He currently resides in Monaco.

Since 2014, di Grassi has raced in Formula E and has scored thirteen victories and won the 2016–17 Drivers' Championship.

He became the FIA Formula E World Champion in 2016–2017, achieved three overall podiums at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Vice-Champion at the World Endurance Championship (2016), Vice-Champion in Formula 2 (former GP2) and won the Macau Grand Prix in 2005.

For the next four seasons, he drove for Audi Sport Team Joest in the FIA World Endurance Championship and took a best finish of second with two victories in 2016.

On 3 July 2018, di Grassi became a father with the birth of his son Leonardo.

In July 2020, Di Grassi was announced as co-founder and Sustainability Ambassador of the eSkootr Championship (eSC) - which was launched in May 2022.