Lewis Hamilton departing Mercedes has been seen as a major blow to the German team. The driver has been part of the team since 2013 and achieved as many as six world titles with the team. The last time he won the title was in 2020 and the last time he was in a title battle was in 2021.

Hamilton leaving Mercedes for Ferrari has made the news and many feel this is a major setback for the German team. Having said that, Lewis Hamilton leaving at the end of the 2024 F1 season could actually be a good thing for the German team, here’s why.

1 The team needs time to get back to winning consistently

There are no two ways of saying this but Mercedes is not fighting for the title any time soon. The team has gone through a major transition in the last couple of years. A lot of people have left the team and during this time it has been trying to consolidate. There are areas where Mercedes looks strong already but when we dissect this piece by piece, it becomes clear that compared to the Red Bull-Max Verstappen benchmark, the team has some work to do.

What Mercedes needs is time to regroup, work on getting better and become a team again. Had Lewis Hamilton been part of the squad, it would not have changed the fact that the car would not have been championship-contending. The entire process is going to take time and during that process, patience is needed.

Having an aging veteran as a part of the team would not have done wonders for the team in terms of bringing the much-needed patience. That is precisely why Hamilton leaving at this stage makes the goal clearer, which is the entire unit getting back to its feet.

2 A Lewis Hamilton successor is already in place

It’s been astounding to see how quickly George Russell’s stock has fallen ever since Lewis Hamilton announced his departure from Mercedes. Sadly, this is just how perceptions work in F1. One good season puts you on a pedestal and a bad one drags you down.

Having said that, even in 2023, George Russell showed enough quality that should put him in the bracket of elite talents in F1. He’s someone who can do a brilliant job and even though there were some errors in 2023, we can expect him to work on them and get back to the top. Comparatively, his numbers against Lewis Hamilton have not been that bad either, and he did essentially outqualify his teammate last season as well.

Russell might not be the superstar that Lewis Hamilton is but he’s certainly a driver who has shown that he could do a good enough job on the track. For now, that would suffice for Toto Wolff.

3 The team needs to get over the ‘eighth title’ obsession

It’s about time Toto Wolff and Mercedes put to bed the horrors of Abu Dhabi 2021 and move forward. In the last couple of seasons, while Lewis Hamilton has struggled with an incapable car, there has been a cloud hanging over the team about what happened in Abu Dhabi.

The Mercedes boss has given far too many interviews talking about how the team was working to get Lewis Hamilton his 8th title.

That cannot be the thought process of a team and that did lead to the team maybe cutting too many corners instead of taking stock of where it was in the larger scheme of things. With Hamilton gone, the focus has now shifted to the team, something that should have happened as a priority.