On Sunday evening in Singapore, one man will stand on the grid, his gaze alternating between crowded grandstands and two blue-and-orange cars, thoughts transporting him back to 2014 when he sat on the other side of the fence with his mates. While they concentrated on another Lewis Hamilton procession - after Nico Rosberg retired with wiring issues - Stephen Fitzpatrick was consumed by other thoughts: how to get himself into Formula 1.
It was no idle dream, for the Belfast-born entrepreneur had more than proven his mettle in the City before founding a string of successful ventures. Still, F1 seemed too far away to be tangible. Formula E it would be, the then 36-year-old reflected - particularly as he was in the sustainable-energy business via his OVO Energy start-up.
"I looked at Formula E," he says. "Then I thought to myself that I love Formula 1, I love motorsport, but I couldn't quite imagine a way to become more involved. So I thought perhaps through [OVO] we could look at finding ways to provide renewable energy to F1 teams.