The world was a very different place 12 months ago when Charles Leclerc drove his Ferrari to a maiden grand prix victory at Spa. The world at large and the world of Leclerc.
Back then, in those distant days when crowds came to the races, Ferrari was a sometimes-dominant force in F1, capable on its day of leaving even Mercedes trailing in its wake. This was the perfect environment to keep Leclerc's vertiginous career progress fuelled.
Here he was, in just his second season of F1, his first with the Scuderia, dominating a grand prix from the front. Just as he had been doing a few months earlier in Bahrain, before a technical problem struck near the end. At Spa that level of performance was rubber-stamped as he entered the history books, the future apparently limitless. He would give a repeat performance seven days later at Ferrari's home venue of Monza, physically repelling Lewis Hamilton along the way.
Leclerc's performances in those two races cemented his 'chosen one' status within the team and spelt the beginning of the end there for Sebastian Vettel. Leclerc was about to join Max Verstappen as the new guard that would fight out world championships for years to come.
Maybe he will fulfil that destiny one day, but there has been a serious setback. That career momentum has been given a sharp tug at the reins by the Technical Directives that have so scuppered Ferrari in 2020. Now Leclerc, setter of seven pole positions last year, must consider it a good day when he can finish fourth on the same lap as the Mercedes.
He races McLarens and Renaults now, not Mercs and Red Bulls. Those days when he finishes ahead of Lance Stroll's Racing Point should be assessed as an over-delivery.
What does the future hold for him? That future is irretrievably bound to Ferrari's - for he is committed to them through to the end of 2025, by which time he will be 28. They are in this together.
That signing looked like the dream contract for him at the time, perhaps less so now that Ferrari has not only been hit by the TDs but also limited in its ability to progress by the regulation restrictions in power unit development imposed as a result of the pandemic - and by the one-year extension of the current monocoques, for the same reason.
But this is still Ferrari, the most powerful team in the sport. It's difficult to conceive it will remain in the doldrums indefinitely, and its recent 'victory' in the Concorde negotiations (whereby it retains its favoured payment status and rules veto) can only enhance its future prospects.
Meanwhile, the team has restructured its technical base. During this process it's going to be vital for Leclerc to make himself part of that rebuilding when it would be easy to feel frustrated at the change in his competitive circumstances.
It's going to require the deepening of the good relationship he already has with the team, beyond that of just its lead driver, but becoming part of its fabric, an inspirational figure that helps with bringing the focus that Mattia Binotto will be trying to pull together.
In that way the glories that looked last year to be Leclerc's due may just be delayed a little rather than obliterated.