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You’re never too far away from a Brazilian driver in the paddock, and there’s a whole host of South American talent currently working their way through the ranks to fulfil their F1 dreams. Among the latest to reach the sport is Lucas Di Grassi, racing with the newly-launched Virgin team in 2010.

Born in Sao Paulo in 1984, Di Grassi started (like most his contemporaries) on the kart track, moving from local to national and then international series. By 2000 he had established himself on a worldwide stage after finishing fifth in the Formula A world championship and he promptly began looking for an opening to make his single-seater debut.

After a long wait, in 2003 he finally secured a drive in the South America Formula Three series. Taking one win, 10 further podium finishes and finishing second in the standings, his debut campaign went better than he could have imagined and he was also able to test his mettle against an international field, competing in four F3 Euroseries races.

In 2004 he joined Renault’s young driver programme, moving over to the UK to race for the Hitech team in British Formula Three. Although he racked up six retirements, he also took two wins and 130 points, finishing eighth in the series. Countryman Nelson Piquet Jr may have taken the title that year, but Di Grassi wasn’t fazed, going on to clinch third place in the Formula Three Macau Grand Prix, behind Alexandre Premat and Robert Kubica.

His strong performance in the prestigious Macau race was enough to pique the interest of John Booth, who signed him up to compete in the F3 Euroseries with his Manor team in 2005. Di Grassi quickly justified Booth’s faith, winning one race and finishing third in the championship behind ASM team mates Lewis Hamilton and Adrian Sutil. He was also treated to his first taste of a Formula One car, testing a Renault for two days in September.

Di Grassi returned to Macau that year too, with Manor, and this time won the illustrious event beating Kubica and Red Bull’s current star Sebastian Vettel. Booth, who Di Grassi will once again drive for in the Virgin F1 project, still considers the event a ‘highlight’ of his racing career. With Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher and David Coulthard amongst the race’s previous winners, Di Grassi was firmly on the map and the Brazilian decided to move to the new Formula One feeder series, GP2, for 2006 to up his profile all the more.

His debut season, however, didn’t go quite to plan. Although he remained quick, posting two fastest laps, he scored just eight points from 21 races and finished the year 17th in the standings. Unhelpfully, former F3 rivals Hamilton, Piquet and Premat finished in the top three positions, but the disappointed Di Grassi decided to stick with GP2 for a second year and try to make his mark.

Signing for reigning champions ART, he achieved his goal, taking a maiden win and a further six podiums to finish runner-up, 11 points adrift of former Toyota driver - and his Virgin team mate for 2010 - Timo Glock. But while Glock’s success gave him a leg up to a Formula One drive, the vacant race seat alongside Fernando Alonso at Renault was handed to Piquet. Di Grassi had to be content with the reserve driver role for the French team.

To keep his race skills up to scratch, he stayed in GP2 for a third year. Taking three wins, six podiums and three fastest laps, he enjoyed better results than in ’07 but finished third in the standings behind Giorgio Pantano and fellow Brazilian Bruno Senna. He also enjoyed plenty of time behind the wheel of a Formula One car, covering over 500 laps whilst testing Renault’s R28, and after Piquet’s modest results many believed Di Grassi was in with a shot of a 2009 race seat with the team. He was even in demand elsewhere, completing two days of testing for Honda in November.

However, despite the rumours, Piquet retained his Renault race drive and with his third driver role at Renault rarely demanding his attention, Di Grassi kept busy by competing for a fourth year in GP2. With one win, four podiums and one fastest lap, he once again finished the season third overall.

There was bitter disappointment, however, when Piquet lost his drive midseason and Renault’s management decided to replace him with Frenchman Romain Grosjean. Although (with few testing miles under his belt) Grosjean struggles, Di Grassi was never called upon to replace him and the Brazilian started looking around for new opportunities ahead of 2010, eventually signing with Virgin. At 25 years-old he’s a relatively old and experienced debutant.

“To finally get a race seat this year is a dream come true,” he said at the team’s launch. “It is amazing. I've been in GP2 for a lot of seasons, have had good results and have also tested for Renault for two years. And now I think I am at the best point in my career. At least as best prepared as I can be. So I think to start in such a solid team and with such a good team mate in F1 is a great opportunity for me.”