Nick Fry will leave his position as CEO of Mercedes at the end of the month and be replaced by Toto Wolff, the executive director, as the team continue to restructure in an attempt to challenge the dominance of Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren.

Six months ago Lewis Hamilton signed to replace Michael Schumacher, while Niki Lauda was appointed non-executive chairman. Last month the Guardian revealed that McLaren's technical director, Paddy Lowe, would be following Hamilton to Mercedes at the end of the year.

Wolff left Williams in January to join Mercedes. He took charge of the team's motor sport side, replacing Norbert Haug. Now his role will widen further to encompass the mostly commercial activities that have been the responsibility of Fry.

Fry, 56, has been in Formula One for 11 years, since being appointed managing director of BAR F1. Before that he was a leading figure at Ford and Prodrive. He is best known for his work alongside Ross Brawn, particularly when Jenson Button won the 2009 world title for Brawn GP.

When the team was bought out, by Mercedes in 2010, Brawn and Fry sold their shares but stayed where they were. Fry will continue to work for Mercedes as a consultant but his considerable experience and commercial contacts are likely to lead to his involvement in other sports, particularly football.

In January there appeared to be friction between Wolff, who owns 30% of the shares, and Lauda (10%) on the one side, and old allies Brawn and Fry on the other. But since then Wolff has smoothed the considerably troubled waters, Brawn has produced a stronger car and Fry's departure is an amicable one.

At Ferrari it took Brawn some years to transform the fortunes of an underachieving team and his work appears to be bearing fruit at Mercedes. They may not be able to keep up with Red Bull and Ferrari as the season unfolds but some of the old swagger has returned.

In testing in February the Mercedes car was one of the most competitive on view. Then, in Sunday's opening grand prix in Melbourne, Hamilton qualified third and finished fifth in his first race since leaving McLaren, startling his new team-mate and old go-karting rival, Nico Rosberg.

Looking back on Sunday's race, Hamilton said: "I think it was massively important for the team and for me. It was good to get it out of the way and we got some points, which could turn out to be vital at the end of the year. I'm delighted to have scored 10 points."

Hamilton appears to have a new excitement and verve when going about his work these days. What was less predicted is that his arrival appears to have lifted Brawn and the rest of the team.

The driver added: "I think the team's motivated and I feel confident that there is more in the car. When I was in Colorado in the winter, I sat and thought about my decision. I thought about what was coming up and I did not know where we were going to be in the first race.

He added: "I think Ferrari are the most impressive and then Lotus and then Red Bull. Lotus won and did a great job but in terms of pure pace I think the Ferraris were quick.

"We should know more this weekend [at the Malaysian Grand Prix] but I would not count us out just yet. I don't know if we can win this race because we were a long way off last weekend but I feel that there is more in the car and we can set it up to be quicker.

"I am not thinking about winning the championship this year. In terms of pure speed we don't have that at the moment. I am thinking that possibly we can win a race."