Williams' Rob Smedley was almost filled with as much emotion as the man to whom the Brazilian crowd and the entire pitlane paid tribute on Sunday.
The head of performance engineer has spent many years alongside Felipe Massa, first at Ferrari and then at Williams, and while he was hoping for a different result in the Brazilian's last home race, the impressive guard of honor which awaited Massa upon his return to the Williams garage will not be forgotten.
"To see all of that, just to see the amount of love for him was incredible," Smedley told Autosport.
"Mercedes is a team he's never had anything to do with, or been near, and all their guys came out and showed him so much love."
"All the Ferrari guys came out because he's so loved down there, but it was still quite incredible. All his family were there and they all surrounded him. It was massively important they were there to support him and carry him through."
As Massa's entitled race engineer over the years, Smedley has been at the forefront of the Brazilian's career, sharing the good and the bad.
"He's done such a great job in Formula 1, and such a great job for his country. We're all just really, really proud of him.
"You've got that weird juxtaposition of wanting him to have done well and finish on a real high. But then having seen what we did see, it was then even more special than him finishing in eighth or ninth position."
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