Jo Ramirez says he introduced Sergio Perez to the right people at McLaren – Formula 1 news
Jo Ramirez, who is a Mexican author and retired McLaren employee, has stated that he introduced his fellow countryman, Sergio Perez, to the right people at McLaren who recently hired him replacing Lewis Hamilton.
“When he first started doing GP2 (in 2009) I said: ‘I have to introduce you to the right people at McLaren, so they just know your face and name. It's always a good thing to do’,” Ramirez said in an interview. “We were lucky because we went to the motor
home...and when we got in there Ron Dennis (chief executive), Mansour Ojjeh (shareholder) and Martin Whitmarsh (team principal) were all there. So he met everybody at once.”
Ramirez added that when he started hearing that Hamilton was a bit unsettled at McLaren and there were rumours about a rift between him and Dennis, he quickly set to work.
Perez said that he has known Ramirez for a long time and that he has been helpful to him. He confirmed that Ramirez definitely helped him approach the right people at McLaren and it makes him happy that he was part of the finalisation of this deal.
The author told that Perez has been focused on what he does; is very tough and has really developed himself as a driver in the last two years. However, Ramirez said that he still has to learn a lot, especially going to a well established team of McLaren.
He pointed out that the young driver is really shy of the press but he has to learn to be good to them since he is about to start driving at McLaren.
Whitmarsh had picked Perez to replace Hamilton after being impressed by his podium finishes for Sauber F1 earlier this season. Even though, Perez has not performed well after that, Whitmarsh believes that he has the potential to learn.
Ramirez had followed his compatriot Ricardo Rodriguez, who died in a racing incident at a young age, into the world of F1. He used to be a coordinator for the McLaren team and was also present during Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost rivalry.
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