The biggest cheers were always going to be reserved for Felipe Massa, but there were times over the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend when it was hard to believe that Lewis Hamilton was not a home-town hero too.
The cheers he got from fans whenever he was on track, the banners in the grandstands urging him on, and the warmth he was afforded by everyone, were on a level where you could be forgiven for thinking he had grown up in the favelas of Sao Paulo rather than an housing estate in Stevenage.
For the man who so famously denied Massa that world title in 2008 at this very track, it may seem strange that he is now worshipped by the locals - but there is one simple reason that they love him so much: Ayrton Senna.