Gutiérrez started his career in 2004 in the Mexican Rotax Max Challenge when he raced in the last 3 events of the season. In 2005, he again competed in the Mexican Rotax Max Challenge, and also raced in the Grand Nationals in South Bend, Indiana, where he finished third, which earned him a place at the World Finals in Malaysia, where he finished 22nd due to mechanical problems.

In 2006, Esteban won all 5 races in the Camkart Challenge Mexico, and again he raced in the Mexican Rotax Max Challenge. He also finished 4th in the Mexican Grand Nationals in Zacatecas, Mexico.

In 2007, Gutiérrez made the step up into the single-seater ranks, competing in the Formula BMW USA series. He finished second overall in the championship, with 4 wins, 8 podiums, 9 pole positions and 3 fastest laps, earning him Rookie of the Year honours. Despite finishing second, Gutiérrez finished some 87 points behind runaway champion Daniel Morad. Gutiérrez raced at the Formula BMW World Final in 2007, eventually finishing last of the classified finishers in 25th.

Gutiérrez moved across to Europe to compete in the 2008 Formula BMW Europe championship, which was the championship’s maiden season after the merging of the British and German series. He won the championship by 26 points from his closest rival Marco Wittmann, taking 7 wins, 6 of which consecutively, and appearing on the podium another 5 times. Out of the seasons 16 races, he only finished outside the points twice in the whole season and retired once overall, giving him a final score of 353 points.

For 2009, Gutiérrez moved up to the Formula 3 Euro Series with a seat at reigning champions ART Grand Prix alongside Jules Bianchi, Valtteri Bottas and Adrien Tambay. He finished ninth overall in the championship, taking two podiums at the Nürburgring and Dijon Prenois.

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 the team losing its BMW backing for 2010, he joined it as an observer for some race weekends and was placed on the same training programme as race drivers Pedro de la Rosa and Kamui Kobayashi. Later in the season, he was officially named as the team’s test and reserve driver on 10 September. On 16 November 2010 he took part in the young drivers test in Abu Dhabi setting the 4th fastest time of the day, just over six-tenths of a second off the qualifying time set by Kamui Kobayashi.

2010 saw Gutiérrez move to the GP3 Series, competing for ART Grand Prix. He joined Pedro Nunes and Alexander Rossi at the team. Gutiérrez won the inaugural season with two races to spare by taking pole position, and the resultant two bonus points that came with it, for the final race weekend in Monza. Gutiérrez dominated the whole season as he scored 10 times out of the 16 races, with 8 podium finishes and 5 wins.

ART Grand Prix was renamed Lotus ART for the 2011. Gutierrez was paired with Jules Bianchi for both the GP2 series and GP2 Asia series. He finished eleventh in the 2011 GP2 Asia series after taking a single 4th-place finish at the Imola sprint race.

On 26 October 2012, Gutiérrez participated in the first free practice session at the Indian Grand Prix, substituting for an unwell Pérez. He ultimately recorded the 20th fastest time in the session, before Pérez was able to return to the car for the second session.

In 2013 Gutiérrez was promoted to the race team with Sauber, alongside Nico Hülkenberg who joined from Force India. His first outing for the team was the Australian Grand Prix, where he qualified in 18th position. After a solid drive he eventually finished the race thirteenth, the best position of all of the 2013 rookies. In Malaysia, Gutiérrez made it through into Q2 and qualified 14th, and finished in twelfth, after he was forced to pit with five laps remaining.

On December 15, 2014, Gutiérrez was announced as Scuderia Ferrari test and reserve driver for the 2015 Formula One season, in place of the late Jules Bianchi.

On 31 October 2015, at the Mexican Grand Prix, it was announced that Gutiérrez would return to racing in the sport alongside Romain Grosjean at Haas F1 Team.

On 11 November 2016, Gutiérrez confirmed via social media he would be leaving Haas F1 Team.

Gutiérrez was born in Monterrey, Nuevo León, the second of four brothers and one sister. He currently lives in London with his wife, Mónica Casán, who he married in 2017.

On 10 January 2017, Gutiérrez announced that he would be joining Formula E, for selected races during the 2016–17 season. On 9 March 2017, it was announced Gutiérrez would replace Ma Qing Hua at Techeetah, from the fourth round onwards. He competed at the Mexico City, Monaco and Paris ePrix and finished within the top 10 twice. He achieved a season finish of 22 with the five points he gained from his three races.

On 1 June 2017, it was announced that Gutiérrez would be joining the IndyCar Series for the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix Presented by Lear Corporation, standing in for the injured Sébastien Bourdais at Dale Coyne Racing. Gutiérrez participated in seven events.

On 5 July 2018, Gutiérrez joined Mercedes AMG as a simulator driver from the beginning of the season. He has since been named as a reserve driver in Formula 1 and Formula E. Gutierrez frequently visits the team’s factory to carry out simulator work in preparation for F1 races and development of its car, supporting race drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas.

In 2020, with the postponement and cancellation of races due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Gutierrez represented Mercedes in the virtual world taking part in several high profile esports events.

During the 2020 COVID 19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown, relatively new to esports, Gutiérrez began participating in a variety of esports events, taking multiple wins and podium finishes.