Did you know Hamilton was testing the clutch for the team that Nico preferred last year? Supposedly it gave more "consistent starts" according to Mercedes. That's why his starts were so good vs Lewis's average. It also doesn't hurt Nico to have his teammate suffer the only Mercedes engine failures (4 I think it was) on the grid. And that's on top of getting Lewis's mechanics that were with him since 2013
I'm guessing those guys won't be on Bottas's side and will switch back to Hamilton