There is a bit of context when you look at the teams they drove for in the formative parts of their careers.
Michael was driving for Benetton by his second race and Benetton were a great little race-winning team in the late-80s to the mid-90s, generally considered to be the ''best of the rest'' behind Williams, McLaren and Ferrari (often beating Ferrari), having never finished lower than 4th in the constructors since 1988. In today's context, it would be like entering F1 with McLaren. You could do a lot worse.
Ralf entered with Jordan, a solid midfield team.
Mick entered with Haas, who were essentially running a 2020-spec car last year with no development, a car which was one of the worst in 2020 and clearly the worst a year later.