Gutierrez enters Mexican Formula E race as F1 hopes fade

2017 F1 season

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Esteban Gutierrez will join the Formula E field for his home race in Mexico City, the promoters have announced.

The former Haas driver will take part in the race on April 1st on a shortened version of the Mexican Grand Prix venue. Gutierrez is the only local driver currently lined up to compete at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. Who he will drive for has not yet been announced.

Formula E will return to Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez
The race does not clash with any F1 rounds, falling between the Australian Grand Prix on March 26th and Chinese Grand Prix on April 9th. However it is a strong indication Gutierrez is considering his options outside grand prix racing after being dropped by Haas at the end of last season.

Gutierrez seems increasingly likely to be left without an F1 drive this year. The remaining seats at Mercedes and Sauber are widely expected to be filled by Valtteri Bottas and Pascal Wehrlein respectively, with Felipe Massa returning to take the Williams seat vacated by Bottas.

That leaves Manor’s two empty seats as the only possible destination for Gutierrez. But last week’s announcement their owners have gone into administration may have ended his final hope of staying in F1.

Gutierrez made his F1 debut with Sauber in 2013 but was released by the team after two seasons. After joining Ferrari as a test driver he returned to racing with Haas last year before being replaced by Kevin Magnussen for the new season.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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28 comments on “Gutierrez enters Mexican Formula E race as F1 hopes fade”

  1. Formula Ex

    1. Nice one

  2. Finally, he spent two years too much in F1.

    1. 3 years

      1. Which proves just how little impact he made….

  3. The hard part now will be finding a team that wants him.

  4. You hear that? No?

    The sound of millions of voices NOT crying out?

  5. We need a term for drivers who happen to miraculously find a drive in time for the race in their home country, whatever the series is.

    Something like pay-driver but not. You know what I mean, someone who is parachuted in to bolster the crowd by giving them someone local to cheer for but doesn’t become a permanent fixture in the series.

    Of course I may be entirely wrong and Gutierrez is just about to kick off the most wonderful, successful Formula E career :-/

    1. fanboost?

      1. I like “fanboost”, it’s vaguely subversive in this context. Fanbooster?

        I’m not specifically having a go at Gutierrez or Formula E for it, or any of the other series that do/have done it, but still, it does slightly rub me up the wrong way.

    2. The term could be “Gutierrez”. Oh look, they put Azerbaijanian driver on the grid for his home GP, they pulled up a “Gutierrez”.

      1. The phrase has to be “to do a Baumgartner” surely?

        1. Karthikeyan India 2011 comes to mind. But then again Karthikeyan had a HRT contract, I believe.

  6. Well, he really fits the bill doesn’t he. After all the opening does specify ‘a failed F1 career’ as a big plus.

  7. :) sad to see him go, he worked hard to get his drives.. But certainly he is no Sergio Perez for example.

    I hope he finds some form in Formula Ex, maybe wins some Le Mans, or whatever ex F1 drivers do these days.

  8. Blue flags

  9. How did he train his neck? Must be biggest of the field, even bigger than Alonso’s.

    1. Turning his head to look in the rear view mirrors.

  10. At least the cars are superb looking…

  11. OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
    10th January 2017, 4:24

    What I don’t understand is why Ferrari had him under his protection… I mean, they don’t need the money, right? And basically the only thing I saw him doing in Ferrari was those commercials previous to the Mexican GP and the Christmas one.

    1. OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
      10th January 2017, 4:25

      Under THEIR protection. Sorry

      1. From people in the know, he is a smart kid who’s hard working and a bit of a perfectionist about setup. He gives good feedback to engineers and is in great shape so he can go back and drive with whatever new stuff the team is trying.

        Problem is his aggressiveness, he just doesn’t have the killer instinct to go out and fight like his life depended on it. Plus, as any other perfectionist, he will be easily distracted if he feels his requirements were not met. He is like the lowly version of Vettel sans the teeth.

        1. I agree with @faulty, you have to listen to him, he seems to be really smart so I don’t doubt he communicates well with engineers. I even rated him higher than Perez in lower categories, he wasn’t slow in them and he showed a better understanding of things going on around him.
          But I also have to agree, he is just not fast in Formula 1. I don’t know what happened, maybe he was unable to adapt to the tires, maybe he was unable to adapt to the pressure -I remember Sauber protecting him not allowing pre-race interviews in his first three races in F1, and I don’t remember a similar treatment to other drivers-, I don’t know, I never understood his drop in performance.

  12. We will all cry…team up with Nasr and do some Rally in a country far far away from civilisation…and take your money with you…lol lol

  13. Let’s hope he does better in Formula Ex than he did in F1. At least at his home race…

  14. Who he will drive for has not yet been announced.

    So basically he has been signed by the series to compete in a race but no team has agreed to put him in a car yet?

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