Video: Ramirez lifts the lid on McLaren's golden era

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Former McLaren team manager Jo Ramirez has been talking about his time working for one of Formula 1's most iconic and successful teams.

The Mexican was employed at Woking from 1983 until 2001. He worked shoulder to shoulder with some of the marque's greatest talents including Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, David Coulthard and Mika Häkkinen.

In this video shared by the McLaren F1 team, Ramirez explores that famous combative relationship between Prost and Senna when they were team mates.

His unrivalled experience and in-depth knowledge of Formula 1 means that Ramirez is in the perfect position to explore their differing styles and temperaments. Remarkably, he was able to stay on friendly terms with both drivers.

"I had a good relation between the two," Ramirez recalled. "When the situation started going more hard, I used to crack jokes between them. Relax them, and cut down their stress.

"Ron [Dennis] used to be the hard man," he said. "They signed the contracts with Ron.

"I helped them to get everything they needed. The favourite helmets, uniforms, travel arrangements. I made a lot of favours for them and they made a lot of favours for me."

During his career in the sport, Ramirez was involved in 479 Grands Prix, with 116 victories. As McLaren team co-ordinator he participated in seven constructors championships and nine successful drivers titles.

As well as McLaren, he also worked for Ferrari, AAR Eagle, Tyrrell, Fittipaldi-Copersucar, Shadow, ATS and Theodore Racing.

Since retiring from the sport, Ramirez has published his autobiography and currently writes a Formula 1 column for the Mexican newspaper Reforma.

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