Lucas Tucci di Grassi (born 11 August 1984) is a Brazilian former racing driver, who last competed in Formula E for Lola Yamaha ABT. In formula racing, di Grassi competed in Formula One in 2010, and won the 2016–17 Formula E Championship with Abt. In endurance racing, di Grassi was runner-up in the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2016 with Audi.
Born in São Paulo, di Grassi began racing karts at the age of ten and achieved early success in the regional and later national kart series. He progressed to car racing in 2002 and was the runner-up in the Formula Renault 2.0 Brazil and Formula 3 Sudamericana championships. Di Grassi took two consecutive victories in the 2004 British Formula Three Championship and progressed to the Euro Series the following year, which saw him clinch a solitary race victory and was the winner of the non-championship Macau Grand Prix. After that, he spent the next three years in the GP2 Series where he won four races and finished as runner-up in 2007 to Timo Glock.
Di Grassi drove in Formula One with the Virgin Racing team in 2010 but was dropped for the following season. He was subsequently employed by Pirelli in mid-2011 as their official tyre tester and developed the company's next generation of tyres. Di Grassi continued this role into 2012. For the next four seasons, he drove for Audi Sport Team Joest in the FIA World Endurance Championship and took a best finish of second with two victories in 2016. Since 2014, di Grassi has raced in Formula E and has scored thirteen victories and won the 2016–17 Drivers' Championship.
In July 2020, di Grassi was announced as co-founder and Sustainability Ambassador of the ESkootr Championship, which was launched in May 2022.
Di Grassi was born on 11 August 1984 in São Paulo, Brazil. He is of Italian descent through his grandfather who came from Polignano a Mare. Di Grassi's family did not have a background in motor racing but his uncle owned a go-kart shop and di Grassi visited him driving go-karts every weekend between the ages of seven and eight. He was educated at the local Santa Cruz High School and later went on to graduate with a degree in Economics after his second year at the private business university Ibmec. Di Grassi married the designer Bianca Diniz Caloi in a ceremony held in the São Paulo municipality of Itirapina on 1 December 2013. He currently resides in Monaco. On 3 July 2018, di Grassi became a father with the birth of his son Leonardo.
Di Grassi founded the fuel conservation non-governmental organisation Smarter Driving in 2007, and was appointed the United Nations Environment Programme's clean air ambassador in 2018. Di Grassi partakes in triathlons to maintain his fitness and balance his racing career. He is also a member of the high-IQ society Mensa. In addition to his native Portuguese, he is fluent in English, Italian, Spanish, and has basic knowledge of French.
Karting and early junior formulae
Upon the invitation of his father, Vito, the former vice-president of the Brazilian heavy vehicles manufacturer Engesa, di Grassi made his karting debut at the age of ten. He won a karting series in São Paulo in 1997, and continued to progress upwards through the South American karting series by winning several races in his native country. The peak of di Grassi's karting career came in 2000 when he placed fifth overall in the Formula A World Championship. That year, he won the Pan American Kart Championship. Di Grassi made his car racing debut in 2002, driving in the Formula Renault 2.0 Brazil, finishing the season with two victories, and placed seven points behind the series victor Sérgio Jimenez. In 2003, he switched to the Formula 3 Sudamericana and joined the Avellone team. Di Grassi took one victory and stood on the podium eleven times, en route to second in the championship, behind the more experienced Danilo Dirani, despite missing the season's final six races due to him injuring his neck in an accident he sustained in Curitiba.
Di Grassi elected to move to the United Kingdom in 2004 so he could take part in the British Formula Three Championship with Hitech Racing. Di Grassi won both races at the Thruxton meeting, but the remainder of the season was difficult for him, and he could only muster eighth in the final standings in spite of good qualifying performances. He was invited to race in the season-ending Macau Grand Prix and came third. Di Grassi graduated to the Formula 3 Euro Series in 2005 with Manor Motorsport but started the season with a major accident at the Hockenheimring where he attempted to pass Giedo van der Garde but clipped the latter's rear-left wheel. He launched into the air and rolled several times before resting in the tyre barrier. Di Grassi recovered to have a solid season and took a lights-to-flag victory at the Oschersleben and came third in the championship. He took a third-place finish at the Masters of Formula 3, and won the end-of-the season Macau Grand Prix from third on the grid by passing Robert Kubica shortly after a safety car restart in the closing stages of the event.
GP2 Series and Formula One testing (2006–2009)
2006 brought di Grassi to the next stage of his career as he entered the GP2 Series support series with the unsuccessful Durango team and was partnered by the Spanish driver Sergio Hernández. While his local rival Nelson Piquet Jr. battled Lewis Hamilton for the championship, di Grassi struggled with a noncompetitive car and could only muster eight points throughout the course of the season. With assistance from the Renault Formula One team, he signed a contract to race for ART Grand Prix in the 2007 season in December 2006 and was partnered for the first round by Michael Ammermüller. He scored points consistently throughout the season, failing to score only once in the first thirteen races. Despite not winning a race in that time, it put di Grassi in contention for the championship along with iSport driver Timo Glock.
Di Grassi scored his first win of the year in the fourteenth round of the season at Istanbul, and took the lead of the championship, but Glock moved back ahead of him when he won the sprint race at the same track. Heading into the final race of the season at Valencia, di Grassi was two points adrift of Glock and said that he was not worried over outside factors determining the title. In changeable weather conditions, di Grassi started on wet tyres, but the rain let up, and he entered the pit lane after two laps for the slick tyres. He pushed too hard on the slippery surface and beached his car in the gravel trap. Glock took the victory in the sprint race and earned one additional point for the fastest lap to clinch the title while di Grassi struggled throughout to finish outside of the top ten.
Di Grassi had no intentions of remaining in GP2 for 2008 as due to his relationship with Renault, he was developing the series's new Dallara GP2/08 chassis in addition to his Formula One test and reserve driver duties. However, he resumed his GP2 career that year by securing a drive at Campos Racing from round four onwards, replacing the 2007 Formula Renault 3.5 Series runner-up Ben Hanley. With three-second places and one fourth-place finish, di Grassi 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-Francorchamps effectively ended di Grassi's hopes. He finished an eventual third, ten points behind Pantano despite six fewer races.
Di Grassi sought to race in Formula One in 2009 with Renault and speculation arose in the motor sport press over him replacing fellow countryman Nelson Piquet Jr. after the latter's poor performance compared to his teammate Fernando Alonso. Renault looked at running either di Grassi or fellow test driver Romain Grosjean for the season, but eventually chose to keep Piquet and Alonso. He along with the 2008 GP2 Series runner-up Bruno Senna were strongly considered by Ross Brawn to drive for Honda. The pair tested the Honda RA108 at the Circuit de Catalunya in mid-November, which had di Grassi lap within half a second of Senna's pace. After Honda withdrew from Formula One due to the 2008 financial crisis, Brawn elected for experience over youth by retaining Rubens Barrichello.