Nico Rosberg has sympathy for the plight of former champion Fernando Alonso.
The Mercedes driver said that, before he began to duel for wins and the title against Lewis Hamilton, struggling for mere points in F1 was "not so difficult" because "I didn’t understand what it was like to have a car capable of winning".
Alonso, however, has gone from dominating with Renault and dicing for titles in a Ferrari to struggling around at the back with a hapless McLaren-Honda.
"To go back into that (uncompetitive) phase again, just as Fernando is doing at McLaren-Honda ... wow. That would be hard," Rosberg told Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper.
"Because now I know how cool it is to win," he explained.
The German, however, said he always knew that his more difficult years in F1 would eventually lead to the top.
"I somehow always knew that my time would come," agreed Rosberg. "Even though it was tiresome at times when Vettel won four years in a row."
But now, it is Mercedes’ rivals who are complaining about that sort of dominance.
"I’m sure everyone respects the job that we have done — even if they don’t say it," Rosberg said.
"We were nowhere. There were tough years for Michael (Schumacher) and myself, for all of the team. We worked hard and suffered a lot in the first three years.
"I have been here from even before day one," he smiled, "before the team even officially existed, so it is such a pleasure to experience what we are now."