Won't Bottas be more of a challenge than Rosberg? There's a case to be made that he could be anyway..
As for Mercedes dominance, I don't think we can assume it will continue in such a dominant fashion after the rule changes..
It might, but I think there's a good chance that power will shift (at least a little anyway).
I think its yet to be seen with Bottas, hes clearly a talented racer, but his time at Williams against Massa might suggest hes not quite at the level Rosberg was at, and certainly not on Hamiltons. Rosberg keeps talking about the effort he needed to put in, just to take the fight to Hamilton for one season, and even then he needed the rub of the green. I think until youre in that situation, you dont know how hard it is to battle a WDC teammate, and Bottas might struggle initially with it.
Also have to remember that the Merc team is basically now moulded around Hamilton, hes been there 4 years, knows the entire team inside and out, hes their star man, will have been involved in car development etc. Bottas will have to get up to speed with the team and the new car, and sometimes that puts a driver on the back foot, but again we will have to wait and see.
For me, I think a lot of people have put Bottas' talent down. Hes a consistent, strong driver and appears to be more naturally gifted in terms of wheel to wheel racing than Rosberg was, which should put him in a good starting position against the supremely fast, but occasionally inconsistent Hamilton.
I think this season, unless Merc have somehow produced a dog of a car, Hamilton will likely beat Bottas on both fronts. Id predict him to dominate him in qualifying, but not so much in terms of finishing position. Just hope Red Bull bring the fight and we have a proper 4 way battle for a title.
