Fair enough. But with two fighters that were superior, why bother?
Because we still look at it differently. You seem to look at what it was.
I look at it as what it could have been.
Things like in 1940, had the British not ordered it with non counterrotating engines and had Washington not siezed the contract so quickly, the Brits could have encountered the P-38's cold air and British aviation fuel issues circa 1941.
British mechanics would have been just as quick to swap the Allisons for Merlins as they did with the Original P-51 which had the same Allison as the P-38 except the supercharger on the P-51's Allison was single stage while the P-38's was dual stage.
The original P-51 was a dog that couldn't get above 20,000 feet.