Lucas di Grassi: The motorsport maverick unafraid to break the mould

Exclusive: A member of Mensa, an environmental ambassador for the UN, a Championship-winning Formula E driver, a polyglot – there’s more than meets the eye to the Brazilian, writes Samuel Lovett

Always looking forward, always innovating, always venturing into life’s uncharted territory, Lucas di Grassi isn't your average racer (Getty)

“Without education, without a proper solid base, you cannot have true democracy.”

It’s the sort of soundbite you’d expect from a well-polished politician canvassing for votes. But, on this occasion, these are the words of Lucas di Grassi, hunched over a plate full of greens in a Bern restaurant, surrounded by members of his Audi team, spending his Friday lunch explaining the shortcomings of modern politics to a somewhat clueless sports journalist.

Switching casually but confidently between today’s most pressing global issues – social inequality, the rise of populism, climate change and the like – it’s safe to say the Brazilian, born and raised in Sao Paulo, isn’t your average racer.

Some background. First and foremost he is a Championship-winning Formula E driver, having spent his earlier career in Formula One and endurance racing. Away from his on-track commitments, he’s the CEO of Roborace – a new racing series aiming to become the first global championship for autonomous cars. He is, naturally, fluent in four languages, and dabbles in basic French every now and then. He’s a member of Mensa, father to an 11-month-old son, an environmental ambassador for the UN, and, as of September, will begin an intensive, three-year business course at Harvard University.

‘Man of many talents’ simply doesn’t cut it.

It’s because of this, and a willingness to speak his mind, that Di Grassi has emerged as one of Formula E’s most prolific figures since the series started in 2014. A vibrant, forceful personality, he brings colour and intrigue to a world dominated by Kubrick-esque machines, big data and space-age technology.

His clash with Robin Frijns earlier this year springs to mind. A three-way shunt between Di Grassi, Sebastien Buemi and Frijns brought the Brazilian’s race in Sanya to a premature end, with the enraged former champion letting loose in the media pen afterwards. Explicits were thrown, fingers pointed and relations soured before the spat later moved onto Twitter. It was the sort of post-race blow-up that will have had Formula E chiefs rubbing their hands with glee behind closed doors.

Because, now into its fifth season, the series needs figures like Di Grassi as it looks to further build its profile. Through their actions on the track – and words off it – these individuals are essential to creating those subplots that pull in the fans and keep them hooked.

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Just listening to Di Grassi speak, it’s hard not to be drawn in. There’s an intensity and obvious intelligence to what he says. No topic or conversation seems too great or too complex or too abstract for him to grapple with. And this for a man speaking in his third language. Then there’s the way he says it. Animated. Articulate. Expressive. It’s hard to look away as his beady eyes buzz back and forth, as if trying to match the furious tempo of his diction. In one hand he wields a fork loaded with food, occasionally jabbing it forward to reinforce his points, while his other slaps the table every now and then – a gesture of enthusiasm or exacerbation.

Take his views on the emergence of populism in global politics, as seen in his native Brazil with the election of Jair Bolsonaro as president.

“Because of an excess of information and a lack of education and understanding, people are very easy to manipulate and it’s creating a very extremist world,” he tells The Independent. “People are trying to protect their interests and electing leaders who promise something which is not feasible in the long term. People don’t have the full understanding.

The Brazilian speaks with an intensity and intelligence that sets him apart (Getty)

“It’s like Brexit.”

That didn’t take long.

“Nobody fully understood the full impact. How can you ask a referendum of people about such a complex issue? People don’t even know what they’re voting for.”

From Trump to Bolsanoro to Brexit, the current political climate paints a deeply worrying picture. When, then, is the solution?

“The only the way to fight extremism is to have a true democracy,” he explains. “For that to happen, people need to be educated in a proper way.

“Without education, without a proper solid base, you cannot have true democracy because then people will choose the wrong leaders which will lead to the wrong decisions – which is what happens in the US, Brazil and many other places.”

It’s at times like this when it feels that Di Grassi’s loquacity, and the passion he exudes when discussing those topics he cares about, could be put to better use. Wouldn’t a life in politics, perhaps, be more suited to his talents?

Jair Bolsonaro’s election as the president of Brazil continued a global shift towards strong-man politics (Getty)

“I don’t have a lot of patience and I’m not a good liar,” he quips. “So I’d probably be a very bad politician.”

Instead, he is far more content using his current platforms within the world of motorsport to spread those messages that matter most to him, the most obvious one being the need for clean energy. Indeed, as a pioneer of Formula E – having been involved with the sport from day one when he worked as a special advisor to founder Alejandro Agag – he feels he is playing his part in developing, promoting and encouraging a technology that, although by no means a panacea, will help in the fight against climate change. According to him, we all have a role to play.

“We’re reaching a critical stage,” he warns. “What I’m involved in is a very small part of [tackling climate change], which is the electrification of mobility. What we do with this small perception change and small technology, it’s an evolution, it’s small steps.

“It’s important for me because if you have the access to and the capacity and capability to, I think it’s a moral duty of everyone to try and make their environment where they work better.”

And through Roborace, Di Grassi is juggling another global theme that he believes needs to be appropriately addressed to avoid doing more harm than good: automation. “The same way as electric was going to be the future, the next step is basically autonomous cars, the automation of transport” he says of his side project.

Still, he’s aware of the inherent social and economic contradictions present in the rise of automation. Although he sees it as “blessing” on the one hand, making our lives safer, more efficient, more cost effective, he admits it also holds the potential to become “socially the biggest problem we’re going to face”.

“Autonomous cars, for example, will take five million jobs out of the US,” he says. “What do you then do with these people?

“If you take a truck driver who is 60 years old, who has done that for the last 40 years, you cannot put the guy anywhere. The guy is inefficient. He will not serve in the truck anymore. He won’t serve in the bar because it’ll be over capacity. This is a huge problem.”

He pauses.

“In a nutshell, there will be a lot of problems: climate change, air pollution, automation. We’re trying to tackle them and to showcase through motorsport. That’s what I want to do.”

Di Grassi celebrates winning the Mexico ePrix earlier this year (Getty)

***

Di Grassi never envisioned his life panning out like this. His weekends as a youngster were spent racing around in one of his uncle’s go-karts in Sao Paulo. Formula One was the “dream”. The gritty, rubber-baked rush of the grid, where the risk of death embellished the pursuit of glory, held an allure for him unlike anything else. But it took a moment of tragedy, the loss of fellow countryman Ayrton Senna, to truly focus his mind as a youngster. Seeing the impact the Brazilian great had on his homeland – “Brazil stopped for three days. From my grandfather to the gardener of my house, everybody cried” – it inspired him to dedicate his life to motorsport.

“I thought ‘Wow, that guy had such an impact through motorsport, maybe I can do the same, even if I can do a little bit,’” he says. “So I started to take motorsport more seriously. My vision was I wanted to do that as a profession.”

He made his karting debut at the age of 10 and, from there, rose through the ranks before later swapping the heat and grime of South America’s junior series for the now defunct British Formula Three Championship. Formula 3 Euro, GP2 and Formula One testing followed throughout the 2000s. His F1 break eventually came in December 2009 when he was unveiled as one of two drivers of the new Virgin Racing team. It’d come at a price, of course, but his toil and dedication had finally paid off.

“To become a professional in your sport you need to abdicate in a lot of things,” he says. “So all through my teenage years I had a very different life from everybody else.

A young Di Grassi (L) during his F1 days with Virgin Racing (Getty)

“When I was 19 I came to live in Oxford by myself [for testing]. I left my girlfriend in Brazil. All my friends were just at university, partying, carnival, and I was alone in Oxford watching the pictures on MSN messenger. It wasn’t easy. You had to have a lot of commitment.”

His time in F1 may have only lasted 12 months, but he’s grateful nonetheless for the opportunities afforded to him and the life he’s lived so far. “My sport moulded me to what I am today,” he adds. “My view was that even if I didn’t manage to become a professional driver, the experiences I had, and the discipline I had to acquire, and the pressures I had to cope with, would make me a much better person. I thought it was always a positive experience but of course I missed out a lot of stuff in my life – but I have zero regrets.”

***

It’s the day before the Bern ePrix and Di Grassi is out for the track walk. He’s in deep conversation with his race engineer as the pair assess the contours of the road, looking for those inconspicuous bumps that could catch him out on race day. You can see the cogs whirring away in his mind. He’s tracing the lines he’ll take, imagining himself in the heat of the moment, 250kw of power surging beneath him, his hands fixed tightly to the wheel, the rush of wind bellowing against his body, willing himself to victory as he drains his mental reserves of every last drop.

His focus is soon broken though. A car train crawls past. He jumps onto the back, cracks a smile and laughs with his Audi team before hopping off. It may be the day before the race but he’s looking relaxed and at ease. Those who know Di Grassi best talk highly of his ability to balance the demands of work with life’s lighter moments. He takes his work seriously – after all, this is a man deeply dedicated to his crafts – but he still carries a playfulness about him that only adds to his appeal.

“He has two sides,” says Daniel Abt, his Audi teammate. “On one side there’s still a bit of a child in him. [He’s] also a person who likes to go out and have fun. We’ve had some good parties together.” Abt quickly checks himself. “Of course now, that’s changed a bit as he has a kid…”

Lucas Di Grassi in action at the Bern ePrix (Getty)

“I think he got a lot more responsible,” he adds. “But he’s still fun. We’re still joking a lot. Lots of talking nonsense sometimes. It’s a good combination.

“On the other side he can be very serious. He also works on business stuff apart from just racing which I’m also doing. I think it’s also a reason why we get along so well, because we are not just thinking about motorsport 24/7.”

And this is ultimately what defines Di Grassi: that willingness to embrace life, with its kaleidoscope of opportunities and possibilities. He isn’t afraid to immerse himself in those experiences that others may shirk away from. He isn’t afraid to raise his head above the parapet and weather the storm, regardless of what form it may take or how hard it blows. This is, after all, how he ended up in Formula E. What the future holds, though, remains another matter. Always looking forward, always innovating, always venturing into life’s uncharted territory, who knows what the next stop will be for Lucas di Grassi.