Smedley moved by Massa support

Editor

After Brazil said farewell to Felipe Massa in his last home race, Williams engineer Rob Smedley admitted that he felt emotional watching all the tributes being poured on to the Brazilian.

Smedley, who spent time with Massa at Ferrari and Williams, said that to see the love for him around the Autódromo José Carlos Pace as he walked back to the team garage was truly remarkable.

“To see all of that, just to see the amount of love for him was incredible,” he 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.”

Despite the former Ferrari ace crashing out of Sunday’s race, Smedley said he has done more than enough for the sport and his country to garner respect.

“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,” he added.

“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.”