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Louis Deletraz joins Formula 2 champion team Carlin for 2019 season

Reigning Formula 2 teams' champion Carlin will field Louis Deletraz in its line-up for the 2019 season as he switches from the Sauber Formula 1 team-affiliated Charouz Racing System squad

Deletraz, son of sometime Larousse and Pacific F1 driver and Le Mans 24 Hours class winner Jean-Denis, finished 10th in the F2 standings last year.

He scored a best result of second in Monaco having fought off Artem Markelov with gearbox issues.

Deletraz concluded the season by testing a current F1 car, running for Haas in the Abu Dhabi Pirelli tyre test, pictured below.

Swiss driver Deletraz knows the Carlin team well having set the fastest time of post-season F2 testing with the team last year.

His race engineer will be Stuart King - who prepared his Fortec car during their runner-up finish in the Formula V8 3.5 series in 2016.

"I had a good year with Charouz but one of the reasons I couldn't stay is because of the Sauber deal. It's complicated," Deletraz explained to Autosport.

"We got in contact with Carlin, I know them from the past and they are the team champions, which is obviously very attractive.

"They are one of the biggest junior single-seater teams there is."

Deletraz failed to win a race in F2 last season, while his Ferrari Academy team-mate Antonio Fuoco took two reversed-grid wins.

Fighting for wins and the title next year is key to his future in Formula 1 according to the 21-year-old, as he enters his third season in the category.

"My first year in F2 was a bit of a disaster for many reasons, but that is in the past," he added.

"Last year with Charouz, we learned a lot with a new team.

"Sometimes we had pace and sometimes we didn't, it was down to many things, a new team, and also to me.

"But now I'm going for the win, that's what we have to do.

"Winning, being at the front and fighting for the championship is the aim and I have done that already and I want to do it again."

After Alexander Albon, Lando Norris and George Russell all graduated to F1 from F2 last year, Deletraz knows it is vital to impress in the championship in 2019.

"F1 is clearly the objective," he said. "It's very important [to fight for the title], we can see if you perform in F2 then you get a chance in F1.

"Now I'm in a position to do so joining the champion team, I've won races in the past and I want to do that again."

With Norris and Sergio Sette Camara, Carlin took the F2 teams' championship, but Norris has graduated to F1 with McLaren while Sette Camara has switched to DAMS in F2.

Honda-affiliated driver Nobuharu Matsushita has already been signed by Carlin for 2019, and will partner Deletraz in the F2 squad.

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