Hulkenberg/Bottas would be a hell of a pairing for Renault I reckon.
Bottas is a safe solid choice but I find him disappointing. when Williams was pretty competitive the last couple of years he hasn't capitalized. I think Massa has been able to keep within touching distance of Bottas
That said Perez has dominated Hulk this year. But Perez has shown significant improvement this year.
since they are both getting on in terms of F1 age. I would rather see a pairing like Hulk/Ocon or Bottas/Ocon, an experienced driver and an exciting new prospect. I tend to rate Hulk more than Bottas but that is purely subjective since they are in different cars and an objective comparison is difficult
Objectively all I can say is that both Hulk and Bottas have both underperformed this year. There may be many legit reasons for that, but they aren't getting any younger.
in fact I rate JEV over Bottas or Hulk. I think RBR were wrong to promote Kyvviat instead of JEV. JEV was on par with Ricciardo at Toro Rosso even though JEV had more failures. Ricciardio had the upper hand in quali, but JEV was better during races
also worth a mention, is that Kmag has held his head above water and Palmer has shown promise in the last couple of races. need to remember that the car was very poor this year and hasn't given either a chance to really prove anything. I think they both deserve a chance to keep their seat for next year. They are both young and will get better
Since there is no way to get Alonso, Sainz and/or Perez, I would favour youth and promise over experience, especially since Renault themselves have said that they don't expect to fight for a title before 3 to 5 years. the fact that young drivers cost less also allows Renault to have more money to spend on poaching technical staff from other teams, and Enstone is in dire need of new blood since they have lost a lot of talented tech guys in the last few years
I don't think this will happen but it's what I feel
my 2 cents