Sergio Perez is back behind the wheel of a Ferrari Formula 1 car at Imola this week, 14 years after he drove a 2009-specification car at Fiorano.
Then, he was a Ferrari Driver Academy prospect in the midst of his 2011 F1 rookie season with Sauber, but now he's a grizzled veteran preparing for his comeback with Cadillac next year using a borrowed Ferrari after his career took a very different path to one that once seemed destined to lead him to Maranello.
It's easy to forget how serious the possibility of Perez driving for Ferrari in F1 was. Signed by the academy in a deal announced in October 2010 when he was on his way to runner-up spot in GP2 behind Pastor Maldonado - and ahead of Jules Bianchi - he graduated to F1 with Sauber in 2011. That deal was partly facilitated by Ferrari's Sauber engine deal as, while there were commercial appeals to Perez, he was also seen as a genuinely interesting prospect.
Perez's first season with Sauber went well, immediately establishing his reputation for tyre management by pulling off a one-stop strategy to finish seventh on-the-road on debut in Australia. While he was disqualified for a technical infringement related to the curvature of the rear wing, it was a positive start to an impressive rookie season, albeit one that was a little patchy in terms of results.
He built on that in 2012 with three podium finishes, the first of those after leading in Malaysia but making a mistake and briefly running off track. That allowed Fernando Alonso to win for Ferrari, although Perez still bagged second and this was the point when he really started to grab the headlines.
His performances that season also attracted the attention of rival teams, leading to a deal with McLaren to replace the Mercedes-bound Lewis Hamilton. Ferrari never considered him an option for 2013 given his relative lack of experience.
This was a fork in the road of Perez's career, and in retrospect one where he ended up on the wrong path given he only lasted one year at McLaren. To make that move, he had to sever ties with Ferrari, even though the prospect of a promotion to a race seat on a longer timeline was being dangled.
It's often said that Perez had a Ferrari deal in place for 2014 but that is stretching a point. As he explained in an appearance on the F1 Beyond the Grid podcast in 2019, what was in place was a pre-contract that offered no guarantees of promotion that year even though there was a genuine possibility of it given Ferrari dropped Felipe Massa at the end of 2013 and brought in Kimi Raikkonen.
"If you go back to 2012, I was a Ferrari member, I was going to get a contract for 2014," said Perez. "I had to stay one more year with Sauber and then get the ride with Ferrari.
"I went to Maranello and discussed that with [team principal Stefano] Domenicali. He told me, 'Let's do a pre-contract for 2014'. I was obviously, back then, quite young and hungry and desperate to get my ride and I said I want to get it for 2013. At that time, Mercedes was interested, Ferrari was and McLaren, so I was in a really strong position and then I thought to myself I need to get into a competitive car because I can win the title.
"So the opportunity with McLaren came. McLaren was winning races, was fighting for titles for the last five years, so how can you say no? It was quite an obvious thing and I had to say goodbye to the Ferrari Academy."
So Perez's career veered in a direction that would lead to him spending seven years with Force India/Racing Point, establishing a reputation as 'king of the midfield' with consistently heavy scoring.
He joined Force India with his reputation tainted, the consequence of McLaren dispensing with his services in favour of its own junior programme prospect Kevin Magnussen, even though Perez's 2013 season was far from a disaster in terms of performance in a midfield car.
He stacked up well in qualifying against team-mate Jenson Button, but was perhaps still a little too rough-round-the-edges for McLaren and didn't have the full confidence of the technical team.
But after a few years banging in good results and the occasional podium finish for the team now known as Aston Martin, he was once again talked about as a driver who perhaps merited a shot in a bigger team.
That eventually came in 2021 with Red Bull Racing, and after winning his first grand prix for Racing Point in late 2020 he added five further wins with his new team.
What might have happened had he spent another year at Sauber and hung on for that Ferrari chance?
Well, 2013 would have been another good season and he could well have produced a campaign similar to that of his replacement Nico Hulkenberg. Whether he would have then stepped up to Ferrari is difficult to say, as the signing of Raikkonen was partly motivated by the need for an established frontrunner as insurance should Alonso walk away.
Of course, Raikkonen performed poorly in 2014 and was far short of the level expected, with Sebastian Vettel signed to replace Alonso for 2015.
Perez might have ended up in a Ferrari in 2014, but it's far from certain. Firstly, he would have needed to perform well in a third Sauber year, and secondly it would have required Ferrari to be convinced he was a better bet than Raikkonen, who was signed off the back of a couple of good years with Lotus and would have been expected to perform far better than he did in his first season back in red. But with Raikkonen available, Perez could very well have found himself frozen out.
Therefore, the most accurate definitive description for his 2014 Ferrari prospects is that he was a genuine candidate - but with no greater certainty than that.
Now, Cadillac awaits. But his days running in the Ferrari at Imola are a reminder of the path not taken for Perez.
