Formula E Driver Profile: Lucas di Grassi
Born in Sao Paulo in 1984, Lucas di Grassi was the first driver to commit to the series, playing a founding role in the ABB FIA Formula E Championship alongside the series’ Founder and CEO Alejandro Agag.
He played a key role in the development of the original spec car that was used in the inaugreal season and also took part in a spectacular street demo in Las Vegas. In 2016, he became the first man in history to drive a racing car on the Arctic Ice Cap, when he took a starring role in the incredible Project Ice adventure.
Starting out his motorsport career after driving karts at his uncle’s kart shop in Interlagos, di Grassi made his competitive karting debut at the age of 10, won a karting series in São Paulo in 1997. Various single-seater categories followed, as well as victory in the Macau Grand Prix in 2005, overall runner-up in the GP2 series and in 2010 even a season in Formula One with Virgin. In 2012, Lucas di Grassi became an Audi factory driver, clinching three podium finishes in the gruelling 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The Brazilian has driven for the Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler team throughout his time in the Championship, finishing third in the first season before taking the 2015/16 title down to the wire, just losing out to Nelson Piquet Jn. But for di Grassi, it was third time lucky as he overcame a 10-point deficit to claim the 2016/17 championship title in Montreal. Going into the 2017/18 season as the reigning champion, di Grassi once again overcame the odds and fought back after a disastrous start to the season to place second overall behind Techeetah’s Jean-Eric Vergne. Taking it down to the wire once again in the final round of the 2018/19 season, di Grassi went head-to-head with Vergne for the second consecutive year as well as Nissan e.dams’ Sebastian Buemi. Neither managed to put a stop to Vergne’s domination, with di Grassi rounding off the season in third place.
Off the track, the Brazilian is CEO of the autonomous racing car project Roborace as well as Founder and CEO of his own electric bike start-up in Brazil. Di Grassi lives with his wife and son Leonardo in Monaco, just 200 meters from the startline of the famous racetrack. For the 2019/20 season, di Grassi remains with Audi alongside long-time teammate Daniel Abt. Together, they take on the team’s title defence behind the wheel of the Gen2 Audi e-tron FE06.
