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That someone as quick as Esteban Ocon has been left with nowhere to go for 2019 is a travesty. And it has prompted a lot of reflection about the state of F1 - whether it be the struggles youngsters face in making the grid, or the growing influence of manufacturers and their driver-development programmes.
But dig a little deeper into the events of the summer and you quickly realise that how Ocon went from having two firm offers for 2019 to nothing in the space of a few weeks has little to do with the wider global picture of F1.
Instead, it has become clear that Ocon was more a victim of bad timing and a mistaken belief that a handshake on a deal to join Renault meant that everything was done and dusted. Ocon's situation developed in the early summer as Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, who looks after his career, focused on sorting the 2019 driver line-up for his works team.
