I'm sure in the 70's and 80's some drivers used to be in and out like they were doing the hokey cokey. A few which spring immediately to mind are Patrick Tambay, who after a less than stellar season in a very poor McLaren M28 in 1979 sat out 1980 before turning up in a Theodore and Ligier in 1981, sat out the start of 1982 before getting Villeneuves Ferrari seat after his death.
Derek Daly, after a season literally flying at Tyrell in 1980 didn't have a drive in 1981 and the beginning of 1982 until Williams took him on to replace Carlos Reutmann after he suddenly retired. One of my favourite driver, Jean-Pierre Jarier used to have breaks from F1 on quite regular occasions and then would pop back up in a different team, sometime two teams in a single season.
The last one I will leave you with father of Max, Jos Verstappen took an enforced year off in 1999 and 2002.