Lucas di Grassi

Lucas di Grassi

Di Grassi at the 2010 Malaysian Grand Prix
Date of birth	11 August 1984 (age 26)
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Brazilian
2010 team	Virgin Racing
2010 car #	25
Races	19 (18 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First race	2010 Bahrain Grand Prix
Last race	2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
2010 position	24th (0 points)

Lucas Tucci di Grassi (born 11 August 1984 in São Paulo) is a Brazilian Formula One racing driver who drove for Virgin Racing in the 2010 Formula One season. He does not currently have a Formula One drive for 2011.

Career

Early career

Di Grassi's career in karting peaked in 2000, with a 5th place in the Formula A World Championship. Di Grassi began his formula racing career in Brazilian Formula Renault in 2002, finishing as runner-up to champion Sérgio Jimenez.

Formula Three (2003–06)

In 2003 Di Grassi stepped up to Formula Three, driving a Dallara F301 Mugen-Honda for Avallone Motorsport in Formula Three Sudamericana. He finished as the championship runner-up behind Danilo Dirani, with one win and eleven other podium finishes. This came despite missing the last six races after suffering a major crash at the Curitiba round.

He also travelled to Europe to make four race starts in the F3 Euroseries with Prema Powerteam, achieving a best finish of fourth place. The following year, he made a permanent move to Europe and took a drive with Hitech Racing in the British F3 Championship. His season peaked with two wins, and he was classified in eighth place overall. Another of that year's highlights was a podium finish on his début at the Macau Grand Prix with Hitech.

In 2005, Di Grassi took another step up in a full-time return to the F3 Euroseries with Manor Motorsport. Against the dominant ASM pairing of Lewis Hamilton and Adrian Sutil he could only manage one win but ended the year third in the championship.

At the end of the season, Di Grassi returned to Macau, this time with Manor, and won the event from third on the grid, although runaway F3 Euroseries champion Hamilton missed the race.

GP2 Series (2006–09)

Di Grassi driving for Campos Grand Prix at the Silverstone round of the 2008 GP2 Series season

2006 brought Di Grassi to the next stage in his career: promotion to the GP2 Grand Prix support series with Team Durango. It was a modest debut season, however, with only 8 points and 17th place in the championship standings.

For 2007 he joined reigning champions ART Grand Prix. He scored points consistently throughout the season, failing to score only once in the first 13 races. Despite not winning a race in that time, it put him in contention for the championship along with iSport's Timo Glock.

He scored his first win of the year in the 14th round of the championship at Istanbul, and took the lead of the championship,[6] but Glock moved back ahead of him when he won the sprint race at the same event, and went on to win the title.

Di Grassi worked on testing the new-model GP2 car (to be used between 2008 and 2010), while testing for Renault F1. However, he resumed his GP2 career in 2008 by securing a drive at Campos Racing from round 4 onwards, replacing Ben Hanley. With three second places and one fourth place finish, he was the highest-scoring driver over the first two race meetings in which he took part. Two wins followed and he briefly looked set for a surprising championship challenge, before a final lap collision with Giorgio Pantano (who was disqualified for the incident) at Spa effectively ended his hopes. He finished an eventual third, ten points behind Pantano despite six fewer races.

He returned to the series for 2009 with Racing Engineering, and again finished third, finishing with the same number of points as he did in 2008.

Formula One

At the end of 2008, Di Grassi tested for the Honda Racing F1 Team alongside fellow Brazilian and GP2 rival Bruno Senna. Honda race driver Jenson Button tested a Honda at Circuit de Catalunya. Senna was just 0.3 seconds off and Di Grassi was 0.5 seconds off. Di Grassi was then sent a contract by Renault to join them as a test driver, becoming the third GP2 runner-up to join Renault as a test driver after fellow Brazilian Nelson Piquet, Jr. and Heikki Kovalainen.

Virgin (2010)

Di Grassi took his and the Virgin team's first race finish at the 2010 Malaysian Grand Prix.

Di Grassi joined Timo Glock at new team Virgin Racing for 2010. The team, originally called Manor, was rebranded when Virgin Group owner Richard Branson purchased a 20% stake. Di Grassi finished in 24th position in the championship, with a best race finish of 14th at the 2010 Malaysian Grand Prix.

In December, di Grassi won the Desafio Internacional das Estrelas, a karting event organised by Felipe Massa.

On 21 December 2010, di Grassi was left without a drive, after Virgin announced Jérôme d'Ambrosio to partner Glock for the 2011 season.

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
2002	Formula Renault 2.0 Brazil	G Force Motorsport	10	2	1	0	6	137	2nd
2003	Formula Three Sudamericana	Avallone Motorsport	12	1	3	0	11	164	2nd
	Formula 3 Euroseries	Prema Powerteam	4	0	0	0	0	5	21st
2004	British Formula 3	Hitech Racing	24	2	3	0	6	130	8th
	Bahrain Super Prix		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	19th
	Macau Grand Prix		1	0	0	0	1	N/A	3rd
	Masters of Formula 3		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	5th
2005	Formula 3 Euroseries	Manor Motorsport	19	1	2	1	6	68	3rd
	Macau Grand Prix		1	1	0	0	1	N/A	1st
	Masters of Formula 3		1	0	0	0	1	N/A	3rd
2006	GP2 Series	Durango	20	0	0	0	2	8	17th
2007	GP2 Series	ART Grand Prix	21	1	0	0	7	77	2nd
2008	GP2 Series	Barwa International Campos Team	14	3	0	2	6	63	3rd
2009	GP2 Series	Racing Engineering	20	1	1	2	8	63	3rd
2010	Formula One	Virgin Racing	19	0	0	0	0	0	24th

(source:wikipedia)

Virgin Racing

Virgin-Cosworth Full name Virgin Racing Base Dinnington, Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England Team principal(s) John Booth Technical director Nick Wirth 2010 Formula One season Race drivers 24.  Timo Glock 25.  Lucas di Grassi Test drivers  Luiz Razia  Jérôme d'Ambrosio Chassis Virgin VR-01 Engine Cosworth CA2010 Tyres Bridgestone 2011 Formula One season Race drivers 24.  Timo Glock 25.  Jérôme d'Ambrosio Test drivers  Luiz Razia Chassis Virgin VR-02 Engine Cosworth Tyres Pirelli Formula One World Championship Career Debut 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix Latest race 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Races competed 19 Constructors' Championships 0 Drivers' Championships 0 Race victories 0 Pole positions 0 Fastest laps 0 2010 position 12th (0 points)

Formula One portal

Virgin Racing, the trading name of Manor Grand Prix Racing Limited, is a Formula One racing team, which made its debut in the 2010 Formula One season. They were granted entry as Manor Grand Prix on 12 June 2009, as one of four new teams selected to race in the 2010 season. On 30 November 2009, the FIA released a revised entry list that stated the team's name as Virgin Racing. Richard Branson's Virgin Group is the title sponsor of the team, which was launched on 15 December 2009.

On 11 November 2010, it was announced that Marussia would take a controlling stake in the team that will lead to the team being called Marussia Virgin Racing from 2011 onwards.

History

Formation

The team was formed as Manor Grand Prix as a tie-up between Manor Motorsport and Wirth Research. Initially, Virgin's Alex Tai was the Team Principal, while Graeme Lowdon was the team's Director of Racing. Manor Motorsport boss John Booth was the Sporting Director, while former Simtek team owner Nick Wirth was the technical director. Less than one month after the Virgin partnership was officially launched, Tai left his position and Booth took over as team principal, with Lowdon becoming the CEO. The team will use engines supplied by Cosworth. Manor Motorsport are best known as a Formula Three team but currently running only one car in the British Formula Three Championship in co-operation with CF Racing. The team helped launch the careers of World Champions Kimi Räikkönen and Lewis Hamilton. Car preparation and racing operations is run from its headquarters in Dinnington, South Yorkshire, while Wirth Research designed, developed and built the VR-01 from its base in Bicester, before announcing a relocation to new, larger premises in Banbury, Oxfordshire in July.

The teams also have plans to create a "Driver Academy", a series of racing teams starting in the new GP3 Series and advancing all the way up to Formula One.

2010

See also: 2010 Formula One season

Timo Glock testing the Virgin VR-01 during pre-season testing in Jerez, in February 2010.

Virgin's car for 2010, the VR-01, is the first F1 car designed entirely using CFD computer simulation technology. It was later discovered that the Virgin VR-01's fuel tank was too small, resulting in the team not being able to finish any races unless the cars are driven at a reduced pace to conserve fuel. The team was given the opportunity to redesign the chassis. On 17 November 2009 it was announced by the team that former Toyota driver Timo Glock would be the team's lead driver for the 2010 season. Glock was signed for two years and has a one year extension offer as well. Long-time Brazilian GP2 regular Lucas di Grassi joined him, while fellow former GP2 driver Luiz Razia fulfilled testing and reserve duties. Álvaro Parente was also signed as a test driver, but left the team prior to the launch of the VR-01. Andy Soucek was signed as his replacement, but left the team in August due to a lack of testing opportunities. The 2010 car was officially launched on their website on 3 February 2010, before running the car at a private event at Silverstone the following two days.

The team recorded its first double finish at the Spanish Grand Prix and had another double finish, best of the new teams at the Turkish Grand Prix.

Sponsorship

Timo Glock's VR-01 on display in partner UST Global's Trivandrum office.

Virgin purchased eighty percent of the team, as part of sponsorship arrangement.The official FIA entry list for 2010 announced on 30 November 2009 showed that Manor GP had been entered as Virgin Racing. The team's partners for 2010 include tyre supplier Bridgestone, IT services company UST Global, environmental technology company Carbon Green, shampoo brand Clear, information technology firm CSC, foreign exchange traders FxPro, clothing company Kappa, the Oxigen investment group and Russian sports car manufacturer Marussia. On 13 January 2010, reports emerged revealing that Virgin had paid an extra one and a half million pounds to Cosworth to have the CA2010 unit rebranded as a Marussia, though both Virgin Racing and Cosworth have denied the story.

On 14 December 2009, Lloyds Banking Group announced that it had invested ten million pounds in the team, reversing the recent trend of financial institutions such as ING and RBS withdrawing sponsorship. However, it remains unclear as to whether or not the Lloyds logo will appear on the cars.

On 7 May 2010, Virgin Racing announced that it had reached a sponsorship deal with Full Tilt Poker. As with further part of their plans the team annnounced on the final race of the season that they had formed a partnership with QNet. At the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, QNet logos were displayed on the cars and on the racesuit of each driver.

Partnership with Marussia

Since the team was formed, it had been in a partnership with Russian car manufacturer Marussia. On 11 November 2010, Marussia acquired a controlling stake in the team and guaranteed the team's future until 2014. Marussia also stated that they plan to have the team racing under a Russian licence eventually. Director Nick Wirth announced that it was a major financial boost for the team and that it will allow it to step into launching Formula One in Russia. The team also announced that their computational fluid dynamics facility will be upgraded, to become the third largest such facility in the world.

Having previously driven for the team during Friday practice sessions at selected events in 2010, Jérôme d'Ambrosio will replace Lucas di Grassi in the team's second seat alongside Timo Glock for the 2011 season.

Complete Formula One results

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

(source:wikipedia)