Why Ocon should target an Alonso-like return

Most drivers who set out on the road to Formula 1 never make it, and those that do find it almost as hard to stay there as to get there in the first place. But the rarest of breeds is the returnee - the driver who arrives, disappears then returns triumphant. This is exactly what Esteban Ocon aspires to do, either by taking Valtteri Bottas's Mercedes seat or landing a deal with a rival team.

In elite sport, a year on the sidelines is regarded as disastrous for career momentum. Losing a year when you have a relatively short competitive shelf-life is never a good thing, but it's not necessarily the body blow some believe it to be. If Ocon is frustrated, he just needs to look to the example of a certain Fernando Alonso.

After a successful rookie season with Minardi, during which he impressed those paying close attention despite not finishing above 10th and, on countback to a best result, ending up behind team-mate Tarso Marques in the championship, Alonso was benched for 2002. Like Ocon, he spent that season as test driver for a manufacturer team - Renault.

While Ocon's absence from this year's grid was more by accident than design, with the change of ownership at Racing Point ousting him and opportunities with Renault and McLaren falling through, Renault always intended to promote Alonso into its race team eventually. The then-20-year-old had the advantage of 40 days of testing during 2002, while Ocon hasn't even driven the 2019 Mercedes - but it's still a worthy comparison.

What Alonso was able to do during that year extended beyond just driving the car. He built relationships with key team members and by being embedded with the race team gained a deeper understanding of how things worked in preparation for his return to the grid. It's no coincidence that he bagged his first pole position, thanks to a lower-fuel gambit, and podium on just his second 2003 outing in Malaysia.

Such experience is invaluable and there are other examples of top drivers that this approach worked for. Felipe Massa had an up-and-down debut season with Sauber in 2002, but after spending the following year as Ferrari test driver, returned to the Swiss team in '04 a far more rounded performer. Long since under contract with Ferrari, this set him on a path to promotion to its race team as Michael Schumacher's team-mate in 2006.

Then there's Mika Hakkinen, who originally signed for McLaren as a race driver in 1993 but then found himself spending most of the year as tester thanks to Ayrton Senna's indecision on whether or not to race. When he did get his chance after Michael Andretti walked away, Hakkinen immediately outqualified Senna for his comeback race at Estoril.

Does all of this make up for losing a year of racing experience? Probably not, but it does mitigate the losses and, provided his attitude behind the scenes is right, should allow Ocon to step into a top drive and do himself justice

The year out can also have other, unexpected, benefits. Ocon has been racing continuously for over a decade, stretching right back to the start of his karting days, with little time to take stock and consolidate. No driver wants to be out of a race seat, but it does offer the chance to regroup, see things from a different perspective and round off some of the rough edges that would remain exposed if the relentlessness continued.

Daniil Kvyat is a superb example of this, citing the year out as critical to his return as a more complete and consistent driver with Toro Rosso this year. While he fell off the grid in very different circumstances to Ocon after being dropped entirely by Red Bull, he also spent the subsequent year as a simulator driver for one of F1's biggest teams - in his case, Ferrari.

"There were tough times after losing my F1 seat, but it's an important process of self-realisation, finding yourself, what works for you, what doesn't," says Kvyat. "It's about understanding your weak points and working on them as hard as you can and small things here and there. Because everyone has talent in F1, it's about how to make the most of it.

"In a way, I was also happy to have a year off. I never had a done deal for my comeback, which some drivers have done. If you are a world champion you can afford to have a year off, but not in my case.

"It was really good to have a year off, to help to see everything from a different perspective, to have more mental rest because those two or three years were quite tricky for me and to realise some things that I can work on and improve. So I think it was crucial to have the year's rest, it was very important."

It perhaps doesn't feel like it for Ocon, but he is probably benefiting from the same thing. If he does find himself as team-mate to Lewis Hamilton, it will be the toughest challenge he has ever faced. Every step up the ladder offers a more intense challenge and most do crumble at one altitude or another, Pierre Gasly perhaps being the best example of this as after a strong season with Toro Rosso in 2018, he struggled badly against Max Verstappen and has now been demoted back to the junior team. Precious few drivers prove up to it at the highest level.

Over the previous six years, Ocon has had to go through a great deal. He's had to adapt to cars from karts in Formula Renault, beat Verstappen in Formula 3, win a tense GP3 campaign, dabble in the DTM (pictured below) and make his name in F1 with Manor and Racing Point. Then he's had to come to terms with losing his seat through no fault of his own.

That's a lot to process and he will now have had the chance to consolidate much of what he's learned. Perhaps that might prevent incidents such as the pointless one when he collided with race leader Verstappen while being lapped at Interlagos last season and the clashes with team-mate Sergio Perez in his Force India days.

Does all of this make up for losing a year of racing experience? Probably not, but it does mitigate the losses and, provided his attitude behind the scenes is right, should allow Ocon to step into a top drive and do himself justice. If he hasn't made the best of it, then perhaps that reflects a certain weakness in him that would always have undermined him. The loss of one year certainly won't be the reason he fails if he does - and he probably won't.

But while there are some celebrated returns, there are also examples that don't correspond with Ocon at all or that present a more negative picture.

Four of the most famous examples are anomalies, notably world champions Niki Lauda, Kimi Raikkonen, Michael Schumacher and Alain Prost. All, to a greater or lesser extent, voluntarily left the grid and had control of their returns, while fellow multiple world champion Juan Manuel Fangio missed the 1952 season thanks to a combination of Alfa Romeo's withdrawal and injuries sustained when he was flung from his Maserati in a crash during the Monza Grand Prix in June.

There are other examples of returnees on the current grid who might count only as qualified successes. Nico Hulkenberg missed the 2011 season after being dropped by Williams in favour of Pastor Maldonado's millions but was picked up by Force India and promoted to a race seat after a year as reserve. Kevin Magnussen lost his McLaren race seat for 2015, but stayed on as reserve driver before joining Renault the following year.

Then there's Kvyat, who remains a possible contender for a Red Bull seat next year despite Albon's promotion. As for Robert Kubica, absent for 2011-18 thanks to injuries sustained in a rallying accident, he's a unique case and his struggles on return are all about the scale of the challenge he faces.

None of this means it's easy for Ocon. Depending on how you set the parameters, there have been only 33 drivers in world championship history who have returned to a regular drive after missing a whole calendar year or more. For every Alonso or Massa, there are plenty of far less successful examples and only seven went on to win grands prix after their return.

But that as much comes down to the quality of driver as it does the situation. While the likes of Philippe Alliot and Adrian Sutil were capable grand prix drivers, they were never potential world champions. Ocon might just be.

Whether he maximises the potential benefits of this year on the sidelines will not only have a big impact on whether he does get his dream shot at Mercedes, but also whether he's able to make good on his prodigious potential when he does. At the very top level, even tiny weaknesses that are invisible elsewhere can be ruthlessly exposed, so Ocon will need to come back refreshed and better than ever for his experience this year.