Less than a year after the change of plans that brought about his retirement from full-time MotoGP competition, Pol Espargaro's outlook on riding in the premier class has changed, too.
Over the course of a competitive but nerve-racking Austrian Grand Prix weekend, he realised how much he wasn't missing the day-in, day-out grind of a full-time MotoGP schedule and the pressure of racing in MotoGP - yet at the same time expressed his desire to race more.
Espargaro was in the first year of a two-year deal in 2023, but had his season derailed by a terrible crash and found himself as one of five riders earmarked for just four KTM/Gas Gas seats for the following year.
He eventually agreed to stand down and accept a KTM test rider role - and made his second grand prix start of 2024 in that capacity last time out at the Red Bull Ring.
Espargaro was competitive in his outing, too, but he is no longer the mid-2023 Pol intent on continuing his career or even the late-2023 Pol leaving the door ever so slightly ajar to a return.
Though of the two riders selected to compete in his stead for Tech3 in 2024 Augusto Fernandez has struggled badly, Espargaro has conveyed no ill feeling or regret - and, during his appearance at the Red Bull Ring, offered a surprising outlook.
He admitted he had been anxious coming into Saturday's sprint and, when asked about that anxiety, said: "I'm happy that I don't have it every weekend.
"I think the point is that these guys, that they are every weekend riding and here with you guys, with the media, with the pressure of all these people - they don't realise how bad it feels, to their bodies and brains.
"But when you're outside, and you see it from the outside, and you go inside again, you really feel it.
"My character really changes a lot. My wife, she's with me this weekend - and I can feel how I'm reacting to her every time I wake up in the morning, and how [differently] I react to her every time I'm at home, a normal day.
"This pressure, to handle, it's very big - but they [the full-time riders] don't realise, because they are used to it. It's very big."
Espargaro is himself part of the media now, having become a regular in DAZN's MotoGP coverage in Spain.
Despite his Austrian Grand Prix start being just a wildcard outing with no championship implications, Espargaro acknowledged that he was desperate to produce a good level - to prove the work of the test team and the KTM technical department behind it in delivering an improved RC16 prototype.
He feels his performance did prove that in the end, especially when correcting for an inevitable race-rustiness.
KTM is allowed six wildcards per season due to its Rank C concession status - which is highly unlikely to change for 2025 - but it will not use all this year.
The wildcard outings are being shared between Espargaro and fellow KTM tester Dani Pedrosa, and there is no indication Espargaro has any more starts scheduled this year.
"You want always more," he said after Sunday's outing. "I want for sure to ride a little bit more.
"Because the more you ride, the more experience you get. Every year everything is different, the riders ride in a different way, they become more aggressive or less aggressive. So you need to understand how the riders are.
Espargaro in Austria
Q1: 2nd, 1m28.635s, +0.068s
Q2: 10th, 1m28.763s, +1.015s
Sprint: 9th, +15.101s (1.079s per lap)
GP: 11th, +30.526s (1.090s per lap)
"When you know a rider - for example, Alex Marquez, he was very quick at the beginning of the race but later on he dropped, if I know that [tendency of his], I take more patience at the beginning and then I charge into him with more aggression at the end.
"But as I didn't know how to face it I was super-stressed at the beginning but then I caught him very quick, very easy. And then I couldn't overtake him because I didn't know how to manage that situation. Because on the test days I don't need to overtake anyone.
"So for sure the more races you do, you get used to different situations that on the test you can't [encounter]."
When asked by The Race whether that stance contradicted what he had said after the sprint - that he hadn't missed the pressure - he said: "These are these two faces of the coin. You hate it so much but you need it.
"It's these feelings that you cannot live without.
"At the end of the day two [GPs] is not a lot, it's very little. And, okay, you face some problems - but how you improve, and how good you feel after you do your job, it's very nice."
