if literally any driver other than lewis hamilton was his teammate, like if merc had gone with hulkenberg like they'd scouted for a while nico rosberg would be a 4x wdc rn and because the car was that goated, and his entire perception by fans would be different.

he won his first (and only race that year) in 2012. and in 2013 he won 2 races. from 2014-2016 he won 20 races, while having peak lewis fucking hamilton as his teammate. 20 races in 3 years. he was fucking fast

valtteri bottas won 10 races over the span of 5 years in merc for rocketship reference, and checo perez won 5 races with redbull over 3 years.

when ppl think nico is the hope for second drivers to pull off a wdc against their generational teammate, they're wrong. bc he's not the trend, he's the statistical anomaly. and he was no second driver.