In Profile: Santiago Ramos

Trident driver Santiago Ramos is one of the newest members of the Formula 3 grid and he has certainly made an impression during the opening two rounds.

We recently sat down with the Mexican racer to get to know more about him, his racing background, his relationship with Sergio Perez and plenty more.

FIRST RACING MEMORY

“It would be when I was three, four years old, I was watching TV with my dad, and I remember there was Formula 1 on. So, we started watching Formula 1 and I always liked racing cars, but I didn't know about it fully. I had seen some pictures and I remember that race was the first full race I watched in my life. I’m not sure I think the race was at Spa, but I do remember that Michael Schumacher won with Ferrari.”

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HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR RACING STYLE?

“I would say that I usually drive quite intelligently. I try to think always about the championship, about the points and everything, unless I need to be aggressive with some drivers. I try to keep it clean and out of trouble and avoid any issues that will compromise my season or race weekend with a crash or something that doesn't make sense.”

WHO IS YOUR RACING HERO?

“My racing hero is Sergio Perez. He is Mexican, and I know perfectly what he did to get to F1, how hard he worked and just seeing him now, last year being second in the F1 Championship is just something unbelievable for me.

“I know him really well. I was a part of his karting academy a couple of years back and he used to teach me personally on the karts. We would go side-by-side on the go karts and he would give me some advice.

“There is some stuff that he taught me which is about being really aggressive on track, because when I was small, I was not aggressive, so when I started driving after that advice, I became quite aggressive I would say.”

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WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST RACING ACHIEVEMENT SO FAR?

“My biggest racing achievement right now is being the Mexican karting Champion, three times, so that's my biggest one and hopefully we can be F3 Champion this year.”

WHAT’S THE BEST THING ABOUT BEING A RACING DRIVER?

“Driving the cars, definitely driving the cars. I think it is just an unbelievable experience, driving these circuits, they are just the best tracks around the world and being able to drive these cars that have 400hp they are really lightweight, it's just something so unbelievable.”

HOW DO YOU RELAX AWAY FROM RACING?

“I try to spend time with my family and my friends when I am able to, but it's quite hard because usually I live in Europe and my family, and my friends are in Mexico. So, when I have some free time, I like to go back.”

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DO YOU HAVE ANY SECRET TALENTS OUTSIDE OF RACING?

"I don't know maybe cooking Mexican food."

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE TRACK ON THE FORMULA 3 CALENDAR?

"Definitely Monaco."