Paul Di Resta may have never achieved a Formula 1 podium, but there was a time when he beat a future four-time world champion – and many other upcoming grand prix drivers.
Back in 2006, the likes of Sebastian Vettel, Giedo van der Garde, Kazuki Nakajima, Kamui Kobayashi, Sebastien Buemi and Romain Grosjean featured on the grid of the Formula 3 Euro Series – a championship whose reigning title winner was a certain Lewis Hamilton.
This was Di Resta’s sophomore campaign at this level, which put him on a par with most of his main rivals; Kobayashi, Buemi and Grosjean were new to F3.
That year, Di Resta switched from Britain’s Manor Motorsport squad to France’s ASM F3, which was soon to be known as ART Grand Prix and had taken the previous two titles with Hamilton and Jamie Green.
Paul Di Resta, ASM Motorsport
Photo by: Edd Hartley / Sutton Images via Getty Images
The ASM lineup was remarkable, with Vettel, Di Resta, van der Garde and Kobayashi united within the same squad.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the depth of the field, this was a topsy-turvy season, featuring 11 different race winners in 20 rounds, but Di Resta and Vettel were the most consistent contenders for victory.
The former’s one-lap pace was decisive as he took five out of 10 possible pole positions, all of them by slim margins: 0.127s over Esteban Guerrieri at the Lausitzring, 0.042s over Richard Antinucci at Brands Hatch, 0.018s over Buemi at Zandvoort, 0.058s over van der Garde at Barcelona, and just 0.001s ahead of Guerrieri at Hockenheim. Di Resta qualified outside of the top three just twice: fifth at Hockenheim, seventh at Le Mans.
Paul Di Resta, ASM Motorsport
Photo by: Jakob Ebrey / LAT Images via Getty Images
There were some hiccups, like Di Resta retiring from the lead at Hockenheim after going off, but other highlights made up for it; at Le Mans, he made the most of lap-one kerfuffle to jump from seventh to the lead and take a decisive victory – his fifth and last of the season.
“It was fairly straightforward,” the Scot told Autosport at the end of that year. “There were a few things that hampered it a little bit, but we never lost the lead of the championship after round two – although it got close. But it was always going to be like that with the new order, and we knew it was going to be like that from the start. But I think we can call it a good season.”
Asked if he was frustrated that Vettel was getting all the headlines and attention, the Scot replied: “Well, he is a BMW Sauber Formula 1 test driver, and that is why so many people have heard of him. That is the way his career was going and hopefully in turn that may happen for me. It is only going to do me good beating him if he is getting all the attention. That is the only way I can look at it. And if young guys like him are getting into F1, and I beat him this season, then that has to be good for me.”
Sebastian Vettel, ASM Motorsport, Paul Di Resta, ASM Motorsport, Giedo van der Garde, ASM Motorsport
Photo by: Kevin Wood / LAT Images via Getty Images
ASM/ART went on to enjoy a six-season title-winning run with Grosjean, Nico Hulkenberg and Jules Bianchi.
Di Resta, meanwhile, moved to the DTM for four years with Mercedes, claiming the championship in 2010, before enjoying a three-year F1 career at Force India – followed by a 2017 cameo for Williams. He finished fourth in the 2012 Singapore and the 2013 Bahrain Grand Prix.
Since then, Di Resta has been active in endurance racing, and he took LMP2 class honours in the 2020 Le Mans 24 Hours with United Autosports alongside Filipe Albuquerque and Filipe Albuquerque.
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: motorsport.com
