Rosberg: 'Bottas is getting under Hamilton's skin'

Valtteri Bottas is doing a good job "getting under Lewis Hamilton's skin" says 2016 world champion Nico Rosberg, the man who was replaced by the Finn in the plum Mercedes team.

After a disappointing 2018 campaign in which he failed to win a race or challenge his team mate, Bottas hit the ground running in Melbourne, outpacing Hamilton and achieving a dominant lights-to-flag win.

As someone who knows what it takes to defeat Hamilton, Rosberg is impressed with what he's seen so far this year from the Australian Grand Prix winner.

• Hamilton sees no changes to Bottas, except for a beard!

"Valtteri is really trying to get under Lewis’ skin at the moment. He’s giving everything, and I think he’s doing a good job," Rosberg told Sky Sports F1.

"It’s always small steps at a time, and you’ve got to pull Lewis down from his high-flying confidence.

"He’s doing it, and then you start to see Lewis getting a few doubts and things like that. That’s the way to go for him."

Bottas underwent a reset over the winter, insisting he's approaching the 2019 season with a different mindset.

"I think he’s done a very good job over the winter to reset," added Rosberg.

"He sent a few messages with the beard, over the radio in Melbourne, a rather strong message, the race start, an awesome start - all these things add up.

"It just gives you this momentum and self-confidence that you need."

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