LIFE in the fast lane for a Scottish teenager has taken another dramatic turn.
Gregor Ramsay, the 17-year-old driver from East Kilbride, has signed a five-year contract with the Lotus F1 Junior Team.
Read our exclusive interview with Gregor and his father Scott
Gregor, who has been assisted in his drive to the top by Ayrshire Euro Lottery winners Colin and Christine Weir, has raced from karting competitions to the gateway of F1 in just eight years.
He will now step up to contest the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup after a successful season in Formula Renault ALPS.
Gregor is now following in the tracks of Jim Clark, the Grand Prix legend from Duns who won the 1963 and 1965 world titles for Lotus.
"I am delighted to have joined Lotus especially as such famous Scots as Jim have flown the Saltire for the team,'' said Gregor. He will race on Grands Prix circuits next year after learning to drive karts on a track in Larkhall. His rise to the top has been helped by Jim McColl of Clyde Blowers and a supportive family with his father, Scott, travelling regularly to watch his son race.
Gregor left Williamwood High School, Clarkston, at 16 to concentrate on driving and he has already been mentored by Luca Baldisserri, the Ferrari driver academy manager, who has praised his protégé's reaction times and psychological strength.
"This is a huge step forward for me,'' said Gregor. "My ultimate aim is to race in F1 and this brings that dream closer.
"But I know that the hard work must continue.
"I am joining a stable of talented young drivers and I will have to be focused to succeed.''
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article