Deletraz completes Carlin's line-up for 2019 F2 season

Carlin has signed Louis Deletraz to complete its driver line-up for the 2019 Formula 2 season.

Deletraz joins the recently-announced Nobuharu Matsushita to form the British squad’s revised driver line-up, following Lando Norris’ F1 graduation with McLaren and Sergio Sette Camara’s switch to DAMS.

The 21-year-old Swiss driver finished 10th in his sophomore F2 campaign in 2018 with Charouz Racing System, twice finishing second on the podium in the Monaco and France sprint races.

Following his maiden F1 outing with Haas in Abu Dhabi post-season testing, Deletraz linked up with Carlin to carry out F2 testing duties, ending the three-day test with the fastest time.

Deletraz, who won the 2015 Formula Renault 2.0 NEC Championship, previously made a one-off appearance with Carlin in 2016 at the Abu Dhabi finale, back when the series was known as GP2.

“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. Alltogether 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.”