Nico Rosberg believes Mercedes was correct not to chase Fernando Alonso for the second Mercedes seat, as pairing the Spaniard with Lewis Hamilton would have led to "fireworks", which would have been to the team's detriment.
Rosberg's late decision to retire as World Champion left Mercedes in a hurry to find a suitable replacement, a situation exacerbated by existing contracts, with the team eventually settling on Williams' Valtteri Bottas
McLaren's Alonso, despite being contracted until the end of 2017, was touted as a potential replacement, and Rosberg says from a fan's perspective would have been an ideal replacement, but it would not have suited Mercedes.
"I'm now a fan, and on that side of the fence, it's very easy to respond," Rosberg told Marca when asked who he'd liked to have seen replace him.
"Everyone says Alonso and I say it too, because there would be fireworks with Hamilton," he said, referring to 2007 when Hamilton and Alonso were team-mates at McLaren – which ended in disaster and forced Alonso to quit the team after just one season.
"As a fan, it would be nice, but for the team, it wouldn't work.
"They've found a great solution. Bottas is fast and though Hamilton will be at a very, very high level and it will be difficult to beat him, I have proved that he can."
Meanwhile Rosberg revealed that Mercedes non-executive chairman Niki Lauda wasn't angry with him for retiring, despite Lauda's public comments to the contrary.
"Angry? No, they have a lot of respect for me and I appreciate it. With Lauda it has been more complicated and though he seems angry in the press, with me he isn't," added Rosberg.
"He told me in person that he took off his hat to me. He's been very supportive after three very good years working together."
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