Nico and Lewis both drove phenomenally well this year.
The differences in their qualifying times were often measured only in
hundredths and sometimes only thousandths of a second.
However, Mercedes engine dominance in 2016 was such that I suspect if
Lewis and Nico had swapped their seats with Daniel and Max, that
Mercedes would still have ended-up one-two.
It is a hypothetical we will never know.
There won't be too many drivers that would not covet Nico's seat for the
2017 season.
There will probably be thousands of fans who wish they could swap their
lounge chairs and stadium seats for Nico's seat for the chance of being
a F1 champion as well.
Nico's announcement after the end of the season must have left many
drivers kicking themselves that they are locked into contacts
with other teams.
However, even for a driver with a firm multi-year contact, teams sometimes
are willing to break the contact in lieu of a multi-million dollar
cash settlement.
But the most likely choice for Mercedes will probably be Pascal Wehrlein.
He has been the Mercedes reserve driver who they have had on loan to
Manor. Given the Mercedes car has been so good, the team may well
figure they could still end up one-two next year with a younger,
talented enough driver given a chance at the wheel.
And Werhlein happens to be German.
The controversial thing - that would never happen - would be to punish Lewis
for ignoring the team, sack him, pay-out Red Bull for Ricciardo and
Verstappen and put them in the Mercedes next year. Now that would
make for an even bigger shock.