After a disappointing 16th-place finish with Trident in the 2024 FIA Formula 3 championship, where he claimed only a single podium finish across the 20 rounds, Santiago Ramos switched to Van Amersfoort Racing for his sophomore year in the series, beginning a new chapter in his F3 career. This new chapter got off to a stunning start during the 2025 Melbourne Round with Ramos claiming his maiden win in the Sprint Race.
During the FIA Formula 3 Post-Sprint Press Conference, attended by Pit Debrief, the Mexican driver stated that he was “super happy” to have claimed victory, having waited on such a moment for “a long time.”
“Good, I’ve waited for this moment for a long time. Last year, we were close in Barcelona, we were close in Imola, but never quite there.”
“I’m super happy to start the year like this.”
He described his victory as “a big confidence boost” for both him and his new team as they aim for the 2025 F3 championship titles.
“I think it’s a big confidence boost, not only for me, also for the team. It’s great to start like this, also with a new car. I think it’s the way to go.”
Ramos enjoyed strong start to 2025 Melbourne Round Sprint Race
A strong start to the Melbourne Sprint Race aided Ramos’ fight for his maiden F3 win. The Mexican driver had a strong start to the line, fending off DAMS Lucas Oil’s Matías Zagazeta, who had a similarly strong start from P2. Ramos then fended off Rodin Motorsport’s Roman Bilinski and Hitech TGR’s Martinius Stenshorne who had started the race from P3 and P4 respectively. As the drivers behind him settled into a battle for P2, Ramos disappeared into the lead, building up a gap of about 4 seconds.
During the press conference, Ramos explained that this had been a part of the strategy, and while he had known that his pace would do some early damage to his tyres, he had anticipated building up a large enough gap that his rivals would not be able to catch up to him.
“I had it clear what I wanted to do for this race, so the strategy was just to try to pull out of the DRS range from the guys behind. So after I managed the situation, not to get overtaken in first and second corner, I said, “OK, now I will go.””
“So I started pushing more and more and more. Obviously using more of the tyres, but I knew that once I pulled out of them, it was going to be really hard for them to catch me. So I just kept pushing, I made a good gap.”
Unfortunately, a Virtual Safety Car, brought out after collisions between Tident’s Charlie Wurz and MP Motorsport’s Tim Tramnitz and AIX Racing’s Dufek and Rodin Motorsport’s Louis Sharp thwarted Ramos’ excellent strategy reducing his lead.
“Then I was really hoping not to have any safety cars, unfortunately, we did. But anyways, it was still, I think, a good strategy.
Late safety car “definitely helped me a bit” — Ramos
Ultimately, it was the Safety Cars that would decide Ramos’ race, earning him the Sprint Race victory in Melbourne. A collision between AIX Racing’s Javier Sagrera and MP Motorsport’s Bruno del Pino, saw the race race finish behind the Safety Car, relieving Ramos who, until then, had been under significant pressure from Stenshorne in P2. Despite several challenges for the lead, Stenshorne could not get an overtake past the Mexican driver before the arrival of the Safety Car. The Norwegian driver settled for second place, behind Ramos.
“Yes, I think at that stage I was struggling a bit with the tyres, because I pushed so much in the beginning, so at the end I was struggling a bit more. So it definitely helped me a bit, that last safety car. Otherwise, I think the racing would have been really hard towards the end of the race.”
Tyres the biggest difference between 2024 and 2025 cars
Ramos’ victory in Melbourne is especially impressive as though he is familiar with the circuit, having raced there in 2024, he, like all 29 other drivers, has had to adapt to the new car introduced ahead of the 2025 F3 season. However, while Ramos acknowledged that the most significant difference was the new tyres, he believes that the 2025 car is similar enough to its predecessor.
“Yeah, so I’d say the difference between last year’s car and now is like there’s small differences, nothing too big. The only thing that changed big were the tyres.”
“Maybe one more procedure and maybe a bit of management is different. But the rest is quite similar for me, at least.”
Despite the similarities and the confidence that he gained from his productive pre-season test, Ramos admitted that he had not seen himself finishing on the podium.
“And yeah, about being where I expected after the test, I don’t know. I think after the test I was confident we had a good pace. Definitely, I did not see myself scoring a podium or anything like that. I was just hoping for some points.”
Having claimed the win in the Melbourne Sprint Race, Ramos hopes to again outperform his expectations in the Feature Race, to give his team some more points.
“I would say it was a bit better and hopefully, we keep this way tomorrow and we can score more points for the team.”
Ramos aiming to use lessons from the Sprint in Sunday’s Feature Race
As he aims for further success in the 2025 Melbourne F3 Round, Ramos plans to use lessons learnt from Saturday’s Sprint Race to aid his campaign. In particular, he plans to focus more on his tyre management, noting its importance in high-speed sections.
“Yeah, I think especially the tyre management, you know, learning how to manage the tyres in especially high-speed corner sections, I think it’s quite important. Tomorrow is going to be a long race.”
While responding to a question from Pit Debrief, the race winner noted that while the many laps under Safety Car conditions had minimised the tyre degradation, hot conditions in the Feature Race could be “tricky for the tyres.”
“Today we have many, many safety cars. We didn’t have really, really much degradation. But tomorrow, obviously, if it doesn’t rain, it’s going to be tricky for the tyres.”
He added, “I hope what I learned to today, I’m able to apply it tomorrow and make a good race.”
A special win to start a special year
Ramos’ win in the Melbourne Sprint Race is a special one for a variety of reasons. Not only is it the first of his F3 career, but it is also a history-making one. He becomes the first Mexican driver to stand on the top step of the F3 podium since the series’ inception in 2019.
However, Ramos’ win is also a special and significant one for his team, who have started off their 50th year in stunning style.
“I think it was really, really good,” Ramos said when asked about the significance of such a good start to his team.
The race winner believes that the outcome was particularly pleasing given how unexpected it had been. Ramos stated that he expected his team to be happy with their performance over the opening F3 weekend in Melbourne, especially with teammate Théophile Naël set to start the Feature Race from P3.
“After Barcelona, honestly, in the past we were strong in some parts, not so strong in others. So we were expecting to struggle a bit more here in Melbourne, from what we thought. It definitely was a bit of a surprise.”
“Also, you know, having Theo, my teammate, P3, so he’s starting P3 tomorrow. It’s quite good for the team. I think they’re quite happy.”
Ramos concluded, “And of course, let’s try to make it a good year for them and not only us as drivers. Try to make them proud and finish well in the championship standings.”
