Delétraz began karting in his native Switzerland 2008, winning the Vega Trofeo Super Mini class the following year.[2] Third-place finishes followed in the KF3Bridgestone Cup Switzerland and Vega Trofeo Junior categories in 2010 before winning the latter championship in 2011.[3]
Formula BMW Talent Cup
Delétraz began his single-seater career in September 2012, racing in the Grand Final of the Formula BMW Talent Cup season, held at Motorsport Arena Oschersleben in Germany. He started each of the three races from Pole position, winning the second race of the event.[4] In the final race of the weekend, Delétraz collided with fellow Swiss driver Ralph Boschung with both drivers retiring from the race. He was subsequently excluded from the event following an incident in the pit lane after the race.[5]
Formula Renault 2.0
2013
Delétraz graduated to Formula Renault for 2013, racing in the Formula Renault 2.0 NEC championship with Josef Kaufmann Racing.[6] He finished the season in 19th place in the championship,[7] with a best race result of fifth coming in the second race of the Silverstone meeting.
In 2015, Delétraz stayed with Josef Kaufmann Racing for a third season, racing a dual campaign in both Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and Formula Renault 2.0 NEC.[12] He won the Formula Renault NEC while he finished in the top3 in Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0.[13]
In April 2015, Delétraz was announced as one of the four drivers selected to join the BMW Motorsport Junior Programme for 2015. As part of the initiative, he is due to contest three races of the Veranstaltergemeinschaft Langstreckenpokal Nürburgring series (VLN) for the manufacturer.[14]
On 18 November 2016, it was announced that Delétraz would make his debut in the final round of the 2016 season with Carlin.[16] He finished 26th in the overall standings with no points.
In December 2016, after partaking in post-season testing with them, Delétraz signed to race full-time with Racing Engineering in 2017 alongside Gustav Malja.[17] After a poor first half of the season, scoring only 1 point, he switched to Rapax, replacing Nyck de Vries who in turn took his place at Racing Engineering.
In 2019 Delétraz moved to reigning teams champion Carlin with Honda junior driver Nobuharu Matsushita. He finished the season eighth in the standings with a best result of 2nd in both the Monaco and Silverstone sprint races.
2020
For 2020, Delétraz returned to Charouz alongside Pedro Piquet.[19] Having scored five podiums, Delétraz ended his final season in the category eighth overall.
In November 2018 it was announced that Delétraz would make his Formula One test debut with Haas F1 Team at the end-of-year Young Driver Test in Abu Dhabi.[20] He completed 117 laps in the second day of the 2 day test.[21][22]
In May 2019 it was announced that Delétraz would join Haas F1 Team as simulator driver for the remainder of the 2019 season.[23] Delétraz continued as reserve and development driver for 2020.[24] However, following Romain Grosjean's crash at the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix, the team preferred to bring in its other development driver, Pietro Fittipaldi. The Swiss driver criticized this decision on social media. Haas team principal Guenther Steiner brushed off these criticisms, saying Fittipaldi deserved the seat, as he had more Formula One mileage than Delétraz.[25] Louis Delétraz did not continue as a development driver with Haas for 2021.
In 2021, it was announced that Delétraz would be competing with Team WRT in the European Le Mans Series in the LMP2 category alongside Robert Kubica and Yifei Ye. With three wins and a P2 finish, they clinched the 2021 European Le Mans Series championship in the LMP2 category.[27] Alongside this, Delétraz competed in the 2021 8 Hours of Portimão in the FIA World Endurance Championship, finishing in P6. Additionally, Delétraz competed in the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans with his European Le Mans series teammates. After leading the race with one lap to go, the car, with Yifei Ye behind the wheel, stopped down the hill past the Dunlop Bridge because of a broken throttle sensor creating an electrical short circuit that temporarily turned the engine's electronic control unit off. Because of this, the team had to retire the car.[28]
In 2023, it was announced that Delétraz would be joining the Wayne Taylor Racing squad, driving the Acura ARX-06GTP entry alongside Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor. He serves as a third driver, competing in the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup in Daytona, Sebring and Petit Le Mans.[32] In the opening race at the 24 Hours of Daytona, Delétraz and his team finished in second, ending up 4.190 seconds behind the Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-AgajanianAcura entry. The team would end up missing out on the title owing to contact between Albuquerque and championship rival Pipo Derani in the final race at Road Atlanta, an event where Delétraz qualified the #10 Acura on pole position, thereby scoring his first ever pole in endurance racing.[33][34]
For his European season, the Swiss driver would contest a campaign for Team WRT in the LMP2 category of the FIA World Endurance Championship, whilst also joining Racing Team Turkey in an attempt to defend his European Le Mans Series title for the second year in a row, this time entering the Pro-Am class alongside Charlie Eastwood and Salih Yoluç.[35][36] During the ELMS season-opener at Barcelona, Delétraz managed to overcome a late pit stop for a change of his car's tail section to pass Neel Jani for the lead with 15 minutes to go, thus beginning RTT's season with an overall victory.[37] Another class victory followed at Paul Ricard, though Delétraz would drop from the overall lead to third within the final few laps as a de-laminating tyre shredded parts of the car's bodywork.[38][39] Bad luck hit the #34 crew at Aragón, where a prospective second place was scuppered during the final pit stop, as the car could not be fired up for eleven minutes, thus dropping them to ninth in class.[40] Despite one further Pro-Am podium in Spa, the team missed out on the title, as a spin by Yoluç in the penultimate race acted as a defining setback.[41] At the end of the year, the team finished third, both in the Pro-Am and overall standings.[42]
The main success story of the season came in the WEC, where Delétraz was partnered by Robert Kubica and Rui Andrade. Following a fifth place at Sebring and a podium at Portimão, the trio combined to take the championship lead with a victory at Spa.[43] Despite a strong race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the team were unable to beat the #34 of Inter Europol Competition; Delétraz losing out in the final stint to Fabio Scherer, who controlled the gap until the checkered flag.[44][45] Another podium followed in Italy, where a late-race overtake by the Swiss driver on the #23 United Autosport guaranteed the team third.[46] Thereafter, a controlled drive to victory in Fuji and a dominant display by WRT at Bahrain, one where the #41 took the lead late thanks to pit stop troubles for the #31 sister car, ended up guaranteeing Delétraz, Kubica, and Andrade the final ever LMP2 title in the WEC era.[47][48][49]
At the end of the year, the Swiss auto racing federation awarded Delétraz the 2023 Auto Sport Schweiz Award for "special services to Swiss motorsport".[50]
2024
Remaining with Wayne Taylor Racing, Delétraz embarked on a full-time campaign in the IMSA SportsCar Championship alongside Jordan Taylor, with Colton Herta joining them for the endurance rounds.[51] At the season-opening 24 Hours of Daytona, the Swiss driver managed to resist the advances of Porsche'sMathieu Jaminet during a late restart to finish third, managing to recover for a podium despite a loss of power that lost the team one lap during the night.[52][53] The following 12 Hours of Sebring saw Delétraz pull off a winning move on Sébastien Bourdais with five minutes to go, claiming WTR's first victory of the GTP era.[54][55] At Long Beach, Delétraz crashed out of the race at the first corner, minutes after starting his stint.[56] Following two top-five finishes, the Swiss driver took his first pole position of the campaign at Watkins Glen.[57]
Parallel to his commitments overseas, the Swiss driver partnered with long-time teammate Kubica and prototype rookie Jonny Edgar at AO Racing by TF in the ELMS.[58]
Delétraz and AO by TF also took part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans as a Pro-Am entry with Alex Quinn and team owner P. J. Hyett, where the Swiss would go on to take pole position.[59][60] The team finished second in the Pro-Am subclass and sixth in LMP2 overall.[61]
^Hensby, Paul (16 June 2015). "The rising star of Louis Deletraz". thecheckeredflag.co.uk. Black Eagle Media Network. Retrieved 22 June 2015. He also made his Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Series debut in 2014, making three appearances at Spa-Francorchamps, the Nurburgring and Paul Ricard.
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