Hours after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Carlos Sainz was struggling to hold back the tears. A monitor was wheeled out into the paddock to display a farewell video Ferrari had produced as a send-off after the Spaniard's four years at Maranello.
All team members were wearing a special cap that Ferrari had produced for the occasion, with Sainz wearing his backwards so the embroidered "Grazie Carlos" message at the back was better visible.
Sainz's faultless second place behind Lando Norris was not quite enough to help Ferrari snatch the world title away from McLaren, but it signified the end of a four-year period in which the 30-year-old left no stone unturned to help his dream team return to the front of Formula 1.
It was also the emotional apotheosis of what has been a challenging year for Sainz, learning on the eve of the season that his fourth campaign in Maranello would be his last, with the Madrid native the unfortunate victim of Ferrari's successful efforts to pry Lewis Hamilton loose from Mercedes.
Losing your seat in F1 is never easy, but Sainz had every right to be deflated after he had already proven doubters wrong once before. When his 2021 move to Ferrari was revealed, few observers imagined he would be anything more than a solid second driver to Ferrari's golden child Charles Leclerc, arguably F1's fastest qualifier.
But while Leclerc indeed had the measure of Sainz over one lap, the Spaniard's talent, determination and work ethic ensured he managed not only to keep up with Leclerc as they traded spells of having the upper hand on each other, but he also played an instrumental role in helping Ferrari turn its form around under team boss Fred Vasseur.
Indeed, some fiery radio messages aside as they fought over the same turf at times, Sainz and Leclerc kept their relationship intact in what has been a complementary alliance, with Leclerc commissioning a tribute helmet to his team-mate for last weekend. It is clear that Ferrari would have been more than happy to continue with the pairing had the unique opportunity to sign Hamilton not presented itself, but with no other top-line seats becoming available, that didn't make Sainz's impending move away from a race-winning car any easier to take.
Sainz bows out with four race wins for Ferrari, two coming this season as he recovered from appendicitis to win in Melbourne, and another in Mexico. "Life is such a rollercoaster," Sainz told F1's Beyond the Grid podcast. "I remember being very emotional on that Australian GP podium because there was my dad there, my manager, my girlfriend. I was obviously thinking about my mom, and they've all seen me suffer during the winter. And when I say suffer, I don't mean I was crying behind closed doors, but I was actually hurt.
"I was hurt because I didn't expect it. I wasn't prepared for that kind of news. I was a bit in shock for a while, and then I regrouped and got training again. But I remember after that win in Australia, thinking about how lucky I am of the people that I have around me, giving me that inner strength to overcome what it was at the time, a tough moment."
Sainz admitted to being angry at the news of his replacement, but over time he has come to accept Ferrari's decision to go after Hamilton at his expense. "I could sit here and say no, but at the time when they give you this news, you're angry. You don't understand it. You curse. You think everything in your life is terrible and you don't understand. But time cures everything.
"You understand Lewis Hamilton, the seven-time world champion, and one of the best if not the best in history, is going to replace you at Ferrari, and you need to be one of the two drivers sacrificed for that to happen. I also understand it was never going to be Charles. Charles has been the project of Ferrari ever since he's been a junior driver.
"So, I understood I had to be the one being replaced from the beginning. I just obviously didn't agree so much at the time. But hey, you end up agreeing and you end up getting on with it. I told [Vasseur and CEO John Elkann] what I thought and moved on and promised them that I was going to give my absolute best for Ferrari."
It would have been easier to move on if other winning seats had become available, but McLaren's line-up is settled and neither Red Bull nor Mercedes decided to make a move for him. Instead, Sainz opted to sign for Williams over the summer in the knowledge that fighting for race wins would no longer be on his immediate horizon as the British team faces a large-scale rebuild. Following a private filming day Sainz, dressed in all-white overalls, made his official Williams debut on Tuesday's Abu Dhabi tyre test.
"I don't think I fit into the Red Bull situation," he said. "They had me available for six months, and they didn't pick me. And I think it's because I simply don't fit into the type of driver that they need. I'm completely fine with that, so I don't see it like a lost opportunity to not wait till December. With James, I cannot explain to you how much I felt wanted and they did an incredible job convincing me."
Sainz's final Ferrari F1 win came in October, where he dominated the Mexican Grand Prix from pole. As the races as a Ferrari driver kept ticking away, he was acutely aware of Mexico potentially being his last win. Therefore, Ferrari's upswing in form was tinged with melancholy as he realised he was leaving a team that he had helped become capable of competing for championships.
"It is bittersweet because it gives me a feeling Ferrari might be in the fight for the world championship next year and I will not be there to use it," he said at the time. "I think it could have been quite easy for me to lose a bit of motivation and to lose a bit of the drive to make it happen. I'm proud of the way that I've managed to keep myself in it and obviously trying to help the team now as much as I can to win this constructors' [title] because it would be the perfect goodbye.
Ferrari ultimately came up 14 points short to knock McLaren off its perch, but Sainz still gave the send-off he deserved. For his driving and technical abilities and his role in Ferrari's resurgence. But also for the exemplary way he has carried himself over the past 10 months.
"It was emotional on the in-lap with my engineer talking to me on the radio,' he reflected. "At the same time, I'm very grateful to be part of this amazing team for four years. I've had the opportunity to win my first races, my first pole positions, my first podiums.
"I've proven to myself and to everyone that I can be fighting for race wins and for podiums if I have the right car."
F1's smooth operator has proven he is a classy operator, too.
