Louis Deletraz has moved to Carlin for the 2019 FIA Formula 2 Championship, it has been announced.
Deletraz has moved from Charouz Racing System to Carlin to start his third full season in F2 joining Noburharu Matsushita in the team. The Swiss racer thereby returns to the British outfit with whom he started the GP2 journey in 2016 in Abu Dhabi.
He had his first full year in 2017 when the series was re-branded as F2, where he raced for Racing Engineering and Rapax, finishing 17th. He moved to Charouz in 2018 and improved to 10th in the standings with two podiums to his name.
Post-2018 season, Deletraz – who is unofficially mentored by Romain Grosjean – got his maiden Formula 1 test run with Haas in Abu Dhabi and also tested in F2 with Carlin. “I’m very happy to join Carlin for the 2019 F2 season,” said Deletraz.
“I know the team since we already worked together in the past and the F2 post season test went perfectly. I’m really excited for 2019 to start, I already feel like at home in the team and the motivation from everyone is amazing.
“I’m very thankful for the amazing support and trust of my sponsors. All together we’re a strong team.” Team principal Trevor Carlin added: “We are so pleased to welcome Louis back to the team for the upcoming season.
“We’ve worked with him for one race in the 2016 and in post-season testing last month in Abu Dhabi. He’s a fantastic driver to work with and I’m sure we can have a strong season together when we hit the ground running once again next season.”
2019 F2 line-up so far:
ART Grand Prix – Nyck de Vries & Nikita Mazepin
Prema – Mick Schumacher & Sean Gelael
Carlin – Nobuharu Matsushita & Louis Deletraz
UNI-Virtuosi – Guanyu Zhou & Luca Ghiotto
Trident – Giuliano Alesi
DAMS – Nicholas Latifi & Sergio Sette Camara