Ramos ready to show full potential after signing with Van Amersfoort Racing

Back for another year of FIA Formula 3, Santiago Ramos will be in the black and orange of Van Amersfoort Racing during his second campaign.

The Mexican driver is enthusiastic about returning for another go round after what he felt was an up and down rookie season.

Ahead of the 2025 season and trip to Melbourne, Ramos explained just how excited he was to be racing with VAR and what he’s targeting this time, along with how his integration with the team had gone so far.

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“I’m really excited. I know that the team has a lot of potential to do a really good job. After a difficult season like I had last year, what I want is to be able to maximise that potential. I know with the expertise that the team has, we can achieve that together.

“I’m quite bad with names since most of the names I’m learning are Dutch! They’re a bit harder for me to learn but it’s going well.

“I had been travelling a lot ahead of testing, getting the helmet ready, sponsor events, but I was super happy to get to the workshop and was able to learn a lot. It’s been like that for the last few weeks and I’m excited to get back to racing.”

Ramos achieved a maiden podium in the final round of 2024 which marked the high point of his season. It was a year that had featured other bright spots, including Pole Position at Imola, but he admits that things didn’t go exactly according to plan throughout.

Still, he was able to reflect honestly about what he’d taken away from those experiences, and how that has changed his approach going into year two of F3 with VAR.

“It was a year of learning. I learned a lot, but it definitely wasn’t what we expected in terms of results by the end of the year. I think we showed some good potential at some races towards the end of the season, but weren’t able to maximise our potential with pace during the races I would say.

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“So, there’s something that I have to keep working on, and I’m sure that with the support and expertise behind me, we will be able to achieve it.

“I was much more comfortable by the end I would say, especially with the format. You don’t get a lot of running time on each race weekend.

“Most of the time, it’s a few laps in Free Practice and then in Qualifying you get two, maybe three laps. So I think I got more comfortable with that and how the Championship and format works. I think I could show a bit more potential in the second half of the year.”

The biggest lesson he learned however came courtesy of teammate Leonardo Fornaroli after the Italian claimed the title last time around.

Ramos says seeing how his 2024 teammate was able to achieve his title has had an impact on how he’ll approach each race in 2025.

“The importance of scoring points every weekend - we saw it with Gabi in 2023 and Leo in 2024, that’s how you become Champion.

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“You don’t have to win all the races, you can have one or two problems, but it’s more about scoring points every weekend and being up there consistently.

“I also think that a good Qualifying and ensuring you’re in the top 12 is going to be something to work on. Then you are in a better position to fight for those points in the Sprint and Feature Races.”

Following testing, Ramos was able to compare his experiences in the previous generation of F3 car with the new one.

After three days around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, the VAR driver says that things felt similar, but that the new, bigger 16-inch Pirelli tyres will be a big point of learning for everyone to get on top of this season.

“I think it’s quite close to the old car in some respects with it being the same engine, so there’s the same power delivery and everything. There are some changes, the weight is a bit higher, but the rest of the basics are quite similar.

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“The trickiest part is the tyre, because we have the 16-inch tyres now so they will play a big role in the development of the car and how you manage situations.

“That will be the hardest thing to learn, but I’m excited about what’s to come and I think the new F3 car will be a really good one.”