Lucas di Grassi · Biography

Lucas Tucci di Grassi was born on 11 August 1984 in São Paulo. He started karting at the age of ten at the invitation of his father, Vito, and won a São Paulo karting series in 1997. In 2000 he finished fifth in the Formula A World Championship and won the Pan American Karting Championship. He raced in Formula One in 2010, drove for Audi in the World Endurance Championship and competed in Formula E from its first race in 2014 through the 2025-26 season, winning the 2016-17 title.

From Brazilian single-seaters to Formula 3

His single-seater debut came in Formula Renault 2.0 Brazil in 2002, where he won two races and finished runner-up, seven points behind Sérgio Jimenez. In 2003 he raced in South American Formula 3 with Avallone. He took one win and 11 podiums and was again second, behind Danilo Dirani, despite missing the last six rounds with a neck injury suffered at Curitiba. The following year he moved to England. In British F3 with Hitech Racing he won both races at Thruxton, finished eighth and took third place at the Macau Grand Prix. In 2005, racing in the Formula 3 Euro Series with Manor Motorsport, he finished third in the standings, won lights to flag at Oschersleben and claimed the Macau Grand Prix from third on the grid.

GP2 and the step up to Formula One

He arrived in GP2 in 2006 with Durango and finished 17th. In 2007, with ART Grand Prix, he was runner-up to Timo Glock. In 2008 he joined Campos Racing from the fourth round, won twice and finished third, ten points behind Giorgio Pantano. He was third again in 2009 with Racing Engineering, winning the Istanbul sprint race, a year in which he also served as Renault's reserve driver. On 15 December 2009 the new Virgin Racing team announced him for 2010 alongside Glock. His best result was 14th at the Malaysian Grand Prix; he ended the year 24th without a point and lost his seat to Jérôme d'Ambrosio. In July 2011 he became Pirelli's test driver, a role he kept into 2012.

Audi and the World Endurance Championship

His time with Audi began at the 2012 6 Hours of São Paulo, his WEC debut, where he finished third overall. In 2013 he was second at the 12 Hours of Sebring, third at the 6 Hours of Spa and third at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, sharing with Oliver Jarvis and Marc Gené. As a full-time driver in 2014 he finished second at Spa, Le Mans and Austin. In 2015 he was fourth at Le Mans and fourth in the championship. In 2016 he won the 6 Hours of Spa, his first outright WEC victory, and the 6 Hours of Bahrain, Audi's final race in the series; he was third at Le Mans and runner-up in the drivers' standings with 147.5 points.

Formula E with Audi Sport ABT

Formula E's test driver in 2012, he was confirmed at Audi Sport ABT on 13 February 2014, partnering Daniel Abt. On 13 September 2014 he won the first race in the series' history in Beijing. He closed the inaugural season with six podiums, 11 points behind champion Nelson Piquet Jr. In 2015-16 he won in Putrajaya, Long Beach and Paris, was stripped of victory in Mexico City because his car was underweight, and lost the title to Sébastien Buemi by two points.

The 2016-17 title

He turned the tables in 2016-17. After winning in Mexico City and the first Montreal race, Di Grassi sealed the Formula E championship at the Montreal finale in July 2017, ahead of Buemi. The following season he was runner-up with 144 points, winning in Zurich and the first New York race, as Audi took the teams' title. In 2018-19 he won in Mexico City and Berlin and finished third. He then placed sixth in 2019-20 and seventh in 2020-21, the year of his win in the first Puebla race, inherited after Pascal Wehrlein's disqualification.

Venturi, Mahindra, a return to ABT and retirement

After seven seasons with Audi he drove for Venturi in 2021-22, won the second London race and finished fifth with 126 points. In 2022-23 he raced for Mahindra, taking pole and third place in Mexico City. He returned to ABT, by then partnered with Cupra, for 2023-24 and scored only four points. In 2024-25, with ABT running Lola machinery, he finished second in Miami behind Wehrlein and ended the year 17th. Away from the track he founded the Smarter Driving NGO in 2007, became chief executive of Roborace on 13 September 2017 and was appointed a clean air ambassador for the UN Environment Programme in 2018. On 30 April 2026 he announced that the 2025-26 Formula E season, with ABT, would be the last of his professional career, which ended in London in August 2026.