Gutiérrez began racing in 2004 in the Mexican Rotax Max Challenge, competing in the final three events of the season. In 2005 he raced again in the Mexican Rotax Max Challenge and finished third at the Grand Nationals in South Bend, Indiana, earning a place at the World Finals in Malaysia, where he finished 22nd due to mechanical problems. In 2006 he won all five races in the Camkart Challenge Mexico and finished fourth in the Mexican Grand Nationals in Zacatecas.
In 2007, Gutiérrez stepped up to the Formula BMW USA series, finishing second in the championship with four wins, eight podiums, nine pole positions and three fastest laps, earning Rookie of the Year honours. He finished 87 points behind champion Daniel Morad and placed 25th at the Formula BMW World Final.
For 2008, Gutiérrez moved to the Formula BMW Europe championship — the series' maiden season after merging the British and German series. He won the championship by 26 points from Marco Wittmann, taking seven wins (six consecutively), appearing on the podium five further times, finishing outside the points only twice, and retiring once, for a final score of 353 points. At the 2008 World Final in Mexico City, he qualified on pole and finished third, beaten by Alexander Rossi and Michael Christensen.
In 2009, Gutiérrez joined ART Grand Prix in the Formula 3 Euro Series alongside Jules Bianchi, Valtteri Bottas and Adrien Tambay. He finished ninth in the championship with two podiums at the Nürburgring and Dijon Prenois, totalling 26 points. He also competed in two rounds of British Formula 3, taking a podium and fastest lap at the Algarve International Circuit, racing against eventual champion Daniel Ricciardo.
In 2010, Gutiérrez moved to the GP3 Series with ART Grand Prix alongside Pedro Nunes and Alexander Rossi. He won the inaugural GP3 season with two races to spare, taking pole position for the final race weekend at Monza. He scored points ten times across sixteen races, with eight podium finishes and five wins.
Gutiérrez attended a GP2 test in Jerez in October 2009 for ART Grand Prix — his first time in a GP2 car — finishing just over half a second slower than the fastest time set by Jules Bianchi, and was recognised as the third fastest rookie of the day. He also participated in an end-of-year test at Paul Ricard for Telmex Arden International.
After winning the 2010 GP3 season, the GP2 sister team ART signed Gutiérrez for the 2011 season. The team was renamed Lotus ART for 2011; Gutiérrez was paired with Jules Bianchi for both the GP2 Series and GP2 Asia Series. He finished eleventh in the 2011 GP2 Asia Series after a single fourth-place finish at the Imola sprint race. In the main GP2 series he finished thirteenth in the championship, taking his first series victory at the sprint race in Valencia and setting his first fastest lap.
For 2012, Gutiérrez remained with the team — renamed Lotus GP — partnered with James Calado. He finished third in the championship with 176 points, three wins, four further podiums and five fastest laps (equalling Valsecchi's season total for most fastest laps). This made him the first GP3 graduate to finish in the top three of the GP2 series.
Gutiérrez first tested a BMW Sauber Formula One car in December 2009 as part of his prize for winning the Formula BMW Europe championship. Despite BMW withdrawing from the team for 2010, he joined as an observer at some race weekends and was placed on the same training programme as race drivers Pedro de la Rosa and Kamui Kobayashi. On 10 September 2010, he was officially named the team's test and reserve driver. On 16 November 2010, he set the fourth fastest time at the young drivers' test in Abu Dhabi, just over six-tenths of a second off Kobayashi's qualifying time.
On 26 October 2012, Gutiérrez participated in the first free practice session at the Indian Grand Prix, substituting for an unwell Sergio Pérez and recording the twentieth fastest time.
In 2013, Gutiérrez was promoted to the race team alongside Nico Hülkenberg. At his first race, the Australian Grand Prix, he qualified eighteenth and finished thirteenth — the best result of all 2013 rookies. In Malaysia he made it through to Q2, qualified fourteenth, and finished twelfth after pitting with five laps remaining. In Spain he set his first fastest lap of a race, recording the second youngest driver to set a fastest lap after Nico Rosberg.
His first and only points-scoring finish came at the Japanese Grand Prix, where he started fourteenth, worked his way through the field, and finished seventh — holding off Nico Rosberg in the closing stages.
On 15 December 2014, Gutiérrez was announced as Scuderia Ferrari's test and reserve driver for the 2015 Formula One season.
On 31 October 2015, at the Mexican Grand Prix, it was announced that Gutiérrez would join Romain Grosjean at the new Haas F1 Team for the 2016 season. He finished fourteenth at the Chinese Grand Prix, passing ex-teammate Nico Hülkenberg in the closing laps. He finished eleventh at the Monaco, Austrian, German and Singapore Grands Prix, and twelfth at Abu Dhabi. On 11 November 2016, Gutiérrez confirmed via social media he would be leaving Haas F1 Team.
On 5 July 2018, Gutiérrez joined Mercedes AMG as a simulator driver. He has since been named a reserve driver in both Formula 1 and Formula E, visiting the team's factory regularly to carry out simulator work in support of race drivers including Andrea Kimi Antonelli and George Russell. In August 2020 it was discovered that Gutiérrez had stopped being eligible for a superlicence at the start of the year after new requirements to maintain them were introduced following more than three years without a race start — an oversight by Mercedes. In 2021 he continued working for Mercedes as a brand and business ambassador. Gutiérrez has been a brand ambassador for Mercedes in Formula One since 2024.
On 10 January 2017, Gutiérrez announced he would join Formula E for selected races during the 2016–17 season. On 9 March 2017, he replaced Ma Qing Hua at Techeetah from the fourth round. He competed at the Mexico City, Monaco and Paris ePrix, finishing in the top ten twice, and ended the season 22nd with five points.
On 1 June 2017, Gutiérrez was announced as a replacement for the injured Sébastien Bourdais at Dale Coyne Racing for the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix. He participated in seven IndyCar events.
During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, Gutiérrez competed in the F1 Esports Virtual Grand Prix Series and The Race All Stars, contending for the title in the latter until a technical glitch ended his campaign in the final round. He subsequently streamed on dedicated Twitch and Discord channels.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
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