Nico Rosberg believes that Valtteri Bottas can perform better than he showed himself in the last royal racing season, and advised him to thoroughly bother Lewis Hamilton in 2019.
Rosberg defeated Hamilton for the 2016 league title when they were team-mates at Mercedes, after which the German announced his retirement at the end of the year.
Mercedes signed Bottas to replace Niko, but after a strong first season in which he won three Grand Prix, the 2018 campaign came out weak and lackluster.
Rosberg, now a Sky F1 expert, speaking on the day of the TV's commercials, believes the start of the season will be critical for Bottas.
"Valtteri is much better than he was able to perform recently," Rosberg told Sky Sports News. - Everything will start again with a new season, and he has a good chance to establish himself in a stronger position and even pretty angry Lewis.
I think it's possible. It always depends on how the season starts.
He was also very unlucky last year. If luck is on his side and he starts the season well, the situation could be very different.”
Bottas helped Mercedes secure its fifth consecutive Constructors' Cup, while Hamilton won 11 wins and his fifth league title.
Rosberg believes that Formula 1 needs his former team to roll back and for others to catch up.
“It was an amazing period of success, but not necessarily the time for a change - it’s time for more battles, and after that, may the best team win,” he said. - Mercedes has been the best in recent years. We want her to be on par with the rest, we want to see a real fight."
Last year, Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel challenged Mercedes, but lost, thanks to the mistakes of both the driver and the team.
Red Bull was also a real threat at the end of the year, and Rosberg said he would like to see Max Verstappen's team, which since 2019 switched to Honda engines, "ahead of, or at least in a three-way struggle."
“That would be cool,” he added. - I hope this will happen this year.
There is a real possibility for this, since the rules of the machines have changed a lot. And everyone had to start over."
