Racing career

Paul’s first introduction to motorsport was through his father, Louis, who raced in Formula Ford 1600 through the late eighties and early nineties. When Paul was eight years old, he started racing himself - going onto win the British JICA Championship seven years later in 2001.

From karting, Di Resta moved into Formula 3, winning the Formula 3 Euro Series in 2006. The following year, he expanded his racing career to touring cars in the DTM, racing for Mercedes. In 2010, he won the prestigious DTM championship with three wins, seven podiums, four pole positions and a fastest lap over 11 races.

In 2008, Paul made his first move into Formula 1, testing for McLaren Mercedes at Silverstone. In 2010, he was announced as the test and reserve driver for Force India. He drove in the practice sessions of numerous Grand Prix weekends including Australia, Germany, Malaysia and Hungary – going on to secure a seat and race for the Force India over three consecutive F1 seasons (2011-2013), teaming up with Nico Hulkenberg in 2012.

Over the next few years, Paul was a Formula 1 test driver for Williams (2016-17) and McLaren (2020-22), alongside a return to the DTM series (2014-19), where he finished third in the 2018 DTM Driver’s Championship.

In 2018, Paul made his prototype endurance racing debut with United Autosports, racing in the 2018 Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona. He has raced with the team every year since – and with great success, winning the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans, 2018-19 Asian Le Mans Series and the 2020 FIA World Endurance Championship. He has won endurance races around the world, from the 8 Hours of Bahrain to the 12 Hours of Sebring, and in 2023 he’s returning to contest both the Asian Le Mans and European Le Mans Series’ with United Autosports.