IT'S a typical early morning in Glasgow.

The sky is dull, dark grey in fact, and the city is just starting to wake up for the day. We're on one of the top floors – it's hard to tell which – of the Whyte & MacKay building near Charing Cross, in a boardroom with panoramic views.

I'm waiting, along with the photographer and a Force India press officer, for Bathgate-born Formula 1 star Paul Di Resta. He's running a few minutes late, something about the early morning traffic apparently.

Then he arrives, quietly, efficiently, without much fuss and sits down. There are no effusive greetings, there is no small talk, just steady politeness. "Hi," with a firm handshake.

Di Resta is a bit like that: he's to the point. He answers questions in his West Lothian accent swiftly and efficiently, without much hesitation and with little room for embellishment or chattiness. For a 25 year-old sporting star, who was catapulted to worldwide fame last year when he won a seat in Force India's Formula 1 team, it's all very grown-up; controlled even.

According to Di Resta, that's just who he is. "I think that's the way I am in life," he says of his business-like demeanour. Di Resta will start racing again when the 2012 Formula 1 season starts on March 18 in Melbourne. When asked how he felt about retaining his seat in the Force India team for the second year, he replied: "You could only really hope what you had done with them was enough to secure you and I'm looking forward to continuing the relationship with Sahara Force India."

Di Resta believes his head firmly screwed on attitude comes from his time racing in the DTM (Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters) championship in Germany, which he started aged 20.

"I think the other thing that's developed me is the four years in DTM being a professional racing driver, representing the biggest car manufacturer in the world, Mercedes Benz, and you're on to deliver, you're in front of the media. I'm doing no more media work in Formula 1 than I did in DTM because obviously it's a big market for them to advertise their cars, or oil, or whatever, so I think it comes from there."

It's fair to say Di Resta, dressed in jeans and a simple jumper this morning, doesn't fit the Formula 1 mould. There's no flashiness about him – the stuff you so often see portrayed on the F1 TV coverage – in fact he seems like a fairly ordinary guy who just happens to drive one of the fastest cars in the world and live with his girlfriend in Monaco.

"Obviously the most important part for me is when you have your bum in the seat," he says. "That's the bit I thrive to do and that's why the ambition was there to drive cars – FI cars are the fastest racing cars in the world, the most engineered ones, so the driving force is there.

"There are a lot of other things that come with it, they're perks of the job, but really the main focus is your performance and your performance is why you're here so that's the main area. Really, you know, you just want to become a race winner and then move on to hopefully winning championships one day."

Di Resta knows a bit about winning – he won the Formula 3 Euroseries championship in 2006 ahead of his then competitor and now F1 champion Sebastian Vettel and was crowned DTM champion in 2010 – however the podium in Formula 1 has been illusive so far.

The Scot is determined that will change one day, but in his usual honest way he's reluctant to say it's going to be a possibility in the near future. "You'd love to say it's a likely thing to happen but I think, given the type of team we are, you can't get too carried away with yourselves. Having said that, you definitely don't rule it out."

There's an honesty about Di Resta. He's determined to win, that's for sure, but he's not the type of person to over-do his own praise. "Being totally realistic I think we're two or three years away from achieving that [winning championships] – it's a massive step, it's three four, five times bigger than the step we made from last year to this year, just to make that jump."

The jump Di Resta is referring to is the challenge of beating the top three teams in F1: McLaren Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari. By all accounts he's right, the chances are his Force India car won't be fast enough to beat them but Di Resta doesn't let issues like that dampen his spirits.

"What I set out to do is to beat everybody," he adds with the kind of reassuring certainty that makes you believe that one day, probably soon, he'll achieve that goal, irrespective of any obstacles which might be in his way.

Di Resta has been a determined racing driver since he can remember. "I couldn't tell you what age I was because it was in my mind forever," he says. Di Resta comes from racing stock – his father Louis raced in Formula Ford while his cousin Dario Franchitti, who married American actress Ashley Judd in Skibo Castle in 2001, is the current IndyCar champion.

"I grew up in a family that was involved in motor racing and watching it on TV, I couldn't honestly say there was a changing factor. It just was and it carried on from there."

Family still remains part of his racing career as well. His parents travel to watch him race when they can, while he says he has a brotherly relationship with Franchitti which allows them to share their professional experiences. "It makes it easier – it's nice to chat about what each other is doing. You know, it's more than a cousin relationship me and Dario have – it's more like a brother one.

"Dario grew up in my dad's house and my dad was a big influence on Dario's career – he went all over the world karting. At the same time though, now it's got to the point that me and Dario are both as busy as each other – I'm probably a little bit more busy than him – so when we do spend time together it's all about switching off.

"When we spend a lot of time together at Christmas, it's be more like everyday life, which is nice. But you're always there should he ever need to speak to me or I need to speak to him, we're very supportive."

As a result of his career in Formula 1, Di Resta doesn't get to spend as much time with his family as he would like. However he says they travel with him when they can. "If family are there then great, if they want to be there then I'm quite supportive of them being there, but certainly it doesn't make any difference – I have my own routine I sort of get myself in but my family should enjoy it and most certainly my dad because he's made this happen. He's put probably more work in than I did in the early years to make it happen."

So far the hard work is paying off. At the British Grand Prix he qualified in sixth place, much further up the grid than anyone expected, although in the end he finished in 15th place. However at the Singapore Grand Prix he finished in sixth place, his highest finish of the season.

To cap it all, at the end of his first season in F1, Di Resta was also named Rookie Driver of the Year. It's an honour he has mixed feelings about. "I think it's a strange word to use when you're a Formula 1 driver, having come through all the ranks, to be called a rookie. I think it should be that you're the best newcomer. But we achieved it and it's obviously something you're going to take."

Last year the risks of motor racing were brought home when Dan Wheldon died while IndyCar racing in America and Marco Simoncelli died as a result of a motorbike MotoGP crash. Di Resta accepts there is an element of risk to his job.

"This year was one of the harder years because it happened in consecutive weekends. It definitely touches the world. We all know the risks – two very freak accidents I would say. But I suppose at the same time you look at where their heads were, had it happened to somebody else I'm sure they'd still be doing what they're doing because it drives you on."

Formula 1 driver PaUl Di Resta