Interview with Paul Di Resta

in INTERVIEWS by admin — March 31, 2010 at 5:19 pm | 3 comments

Scotland’s Paul di Resta is in Kuala Lumpar this week preparing to take charge of Force India team-mate Tonio Liuzzi’s car for Friday morning’s practice session. But before jumping on the plane to Malaysia, he spoke with Jim McGill.

As the rain dripped incessantly from the awning above the Force India timing screens perched above the start-finish straight of the Albert Park street circuit in Melbourne, the team’s reserve and test driver Paul di Resta smiled: “It’s just like being back home.”

If the 23-year-old from Bathgate thought being part of the world of Formula One was going to be glamourous, watching Friday’s second practice session sheltering from the Australian rain put paid to that. But Di Resta, acknowledged as probably the most talented young racing driver in the world not to have a full-time F1 race seat, is happy to serve his apprenticeship knowing he has the opportunity to finally break into motorsport’s elite.

“I’m happy to be here and be part of Formula One with Force India,” Di Resta — who hours earlier, in his first appearance in an official grand prix weekend practice session, had finished ahead of seven-times world champ Michael Schumacher — said. “The team has given me a fantastic opportunity and I have every intention of turning my role as reserve driver into a full F1 racing driver. That’s why I’m here.”

At a time when F1 testing is severely restricted, denying any platform for development for young drivers, Di Resta will alternate swapping cars with Force India drivers Adrian Sutil and Tonio Liuzzi for the morning practice session ahead of grands prix.

Anyone who questions, or belittles, Di Resta’s role as “merely a reserve and test driver” should examine the facts first. As part of the Mercedes Young Driver Development Programme, which also fast-tracked Schumacher into F1, the Scot is being carefully nurtured for grand prix success.

But it’s a route which, at times, has threatened to stall. With an early career funded privately by his dad Louis, and cousin, double IndyCar and Indy500 winner Dario Franchitti, Di Resta’s single-seater career looked like grinding to a halt after he won the European Formula 3 Championship in 2006.

The Scot dominated not only Europe’s toughest F3 series, but comfortably beat his team-mate Sebastian Vettel. While the German took his significant sponsorship package to the BMW-Sauber F1 team in 2007, Di Resta was forced to switch to the German Touring Car Championship (DTM) with Mercedes.

Three years later, Vettel has won five of the 44 grands prix he has started. With Red Bull, he is one of the favourites to be crowned world champion this season. Di Resta though, despite whatever private thoughts he may have, refuses to be sucked into comparisons and discussions of ‘what might have been’.

“I’m happy with the way things have worked out,” he continued. “I feel this is the right time in my life to be entering Formula One. I always had faith in my own ability. It’s a very, very exciting time and I know there are big challenges ahead. But I have the belief that I can, and will succeed, and that will drive me on to success.”

Di Resta is no stranger to success. A string of national and European karting championships propelled him into single-seaters and it was fitting that his first win in the British Formula Renault Championship should come at Knockhill in 2003 when both his cousins, Dario and Marino Franchitti, were there to offer support.

Following his Euro F3 title, the Scot only narrowly missed out on the DTM championship in 2008. This year he will dovetail another assault on the German title with his F1 responsibilities. But the quiet, thoughtful and articulate driver — who spent the Sunday before he flew out to Bahrain for the season’s opener spending the day driving up the West Coast with his girlfriend, “just because it was a nice day” — isn’t fazed by the demands he faces.

“I know there are times when the travelling is going to be a pain, but I’m a racing driver and I want to race,” he said. “The DTM stuff will keep me sharp for the F1 sessions, so I’m comfortable it will work fine.

“Force India have taken me on as reserve and test driver, and they’re going to nurture me for bigger things in the future. I have to be patient, and I have no problem with that. They want me to be a race driver, and when that occasion arises I have to be ready to take it.

“There’s nothing I need to prove; at least I don’t think there is. I’m not someone who tries to convince them through talking; I’ll do my talking on the track. I’ll convince them through my driving.”
Having impressed on his first outing on Friday, when he was 11th-quickest, just 0.272secs behind team-mate Liuzzi — the Italian 29-year-old who, unlike the young Scot, has contested 45 grands prix — Di Resta is back in the car in five days in Malaysia. The burning question though is: does he believe he’ll be on the grid in a race car next season?

“Of course,” he said, without even the slightest hint of doubt, “and that’s what I’m going to try to achieve. Equally, I’m out to try and get one of these drives as soon as I can. That’s what I’m pushing to do. Give me the chance and I’ll show what I can achieve.”