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Unless it was Vettel or Alonso at Mercedes, the driver replacing Rosberg was always going to be number 2. The team bosses would have known that right from when they signed him. If he came out of the truck beating Hamilton straight away and was looking like the main contender, perhaps at some stage of the season they would have made it more even or made Bottas #1, but he hasn't and odds are that was never going to happen. I suspect Nico was always the unofficial #2 as well, as soon as they signed Lewis in 2013 and he was beating Nico straight away.
Look at it another way, if both Rosberg and Hamilton retired last season, would Bottas now be their #1? I don't think so, they would have done whatever was required to poach Alonso from McLaren, or one of the RB boys as they're both at least as good as Bottas.
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