  We study the implications of having a similarity between quark and lepton
mixing in the Dirac sector of the Standard Model plus the right-handed
neutrino. This enable us to describe all masses and mixings in the Dirac sector
in terms of only five parameters: three mass scales $m_b$, $m_{\tau}$ and
$m_t$, one parameter $\lambda$ describing all the mixings, and a CP violating
phase in the quark sector. Then, from experimental data on neutrino masses and
mixings, we extract the heavy neutrino mass matrix. The approach considered,
although does not contraddict Grand Unified Theories, can help to find other
theoretical models of fermion masses.
