Born in Uphall, West Lothian, and raised in Bathgate, di Resta is of Italian descent and is a cousin of IndyCar and CART champions Dario and Marino Franchitti. His cousin Dario won the McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award in 1992; Paul won the same award twelve years later in 2004. Di Resta is a former pupil of Bathgate Academy and now lives in Monaco.
Di Resta stepped into single-seaters at the end of 2002 in the British Formula Renault Winter Series. He raced in British Formula Renault full-time in 2003, finishing seventh, then switched to Manor Motorsport for 2004 and finished third with four wins. He won the McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award that season.
In Formula Three, di Resta switched to the Formula Three Euroseries with Manor in 2005, finishing tenth. Moving to ASM Formule 3 for 2006, he won the championship with five victories, beating future Formula One World Drivers' Champion Sebastian Vettel. He also won the 2006 BP Ultimate Masters at Circuit Park Zandvoort that year.
Di Resta joined Mercedes in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters in 2007, finishing fifth overall in his debut season. He improved to second in the championship in 2008, four points behind champion Timo Scheider. In 2009, he finished third behind Scheider and Gary Paffett. He claimed the DTM championship outright in 2010, winning three races in a row during the title run. After moving to Formula One he returned to DTM with HWA Mercedes from 2014 to 2018, and joined the Swiss team R-Motorsport driving an Aston Martin Vantage DTM in 2019.
Di Resta competed in Formula One with Force India from 2011 to 2013, recording a career-best fourth place at the 2012 Singapore Grand Prix. He replaced Felipe Massa at Williams for a single race at the 2017 Hungarian Grand Prix as a late substitute, returning to Formula One for the first time in nearly four years. He served as a reserve driver for McLaren from 2020 to 2022.
In 2018, di Resta raced in the Asian Le Mans Series for United Autosports alongside Phil Hanson, winning one race and four podiums. The pairing won the 2018–19 Asian Le Mans Series championship, which led to entry into the FIA World Endurance Championship.
Di Resta and United Autosports competed in the 2019–20 FIA World Endurance Championship, winning the LMP2 class at the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans alongside Hanson and Filipe Albuquerque, finishing fifth overall. The Le Mans win represented the pinnacle of di Resta's endurance career and placed him among a small group of racing drivers to have won both a single-seater championship and a Le Mans class victory.
For 2022, Peugeot Sport signed di Resta to drive their LMH Hypercar entry alongside Mikkel Jensen and Jean-Eric Vergne in the FIA World Endurance Championship. The team competed in the final three rounds of that season, recording a fourth-place finish at the 6 Hours of Fuji alongside two retirements. Di Resta continued with the Peugeot programme into subsequent seasons.
From 2016 until January 2023, di Resta was a regular co-commentator and analyst for Sky Sports' Formula One coverage, appearing alongside Jenson Button, Karun Chandhok, Anthony Davidson, Damon Hill, Nico Rosberg, and Johnny Herbert. He was released by Sky Sports in January 2023 alongside Herbert.