Mercedes have parted company with their executive technical director, Paddy Lowe, a crucial factor in the team winning the past three Formula One championships. He has been with Mercedes for three and a half years and is strongly expected to join Williams.

Lowe will not be replaced in the short term, with current staff expected to take on his duties, but it leaves Mercedes without a senior technical director and still to announce a replacement for Nico Rosberg who retired after taking the 2016 drivers’ title.

Lowe had been in talks over a new contract since the close of last season but a deal could not be reached. The Mercedes head of motorsport, Toto Wolff, is confident the team are strong enough to move forward without the 54-year-old. “Paddy has played an important part in our success during the past three and a half years and we thank him for his contribution to this significant chapter in Mercedes’ motorsport history,” he said.

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“Success in Formula One is not about single individuals but about the strength in depth and technical capability of an organisation. We have the talent in place to continue our success and we plan to build upon it in 2017 and beyond.”

Lowe suggested that while his future is unconfirmed, he will be joining another team. “I have had a fantastically successful and enjoyable three and a half years at Mercedes working with an incredible team of people,” he said. “I am now looking forward to a new challenge and wish everyone well at Mercedes.”

Lowe has begun a period of gardening leave with the Mercedes board “wishing Paddy well with his future endeavours”.

A possible replacement could be the former Ferrari technical director, James Allison, who left the Scuderia in July last year and is himself on gardening leave. Williams have yet to comment on any proposed move by Lowe.

Mercedes are in talks with Williams to bring in Valtteri Bottas to drive alongside Lewis Hamilton this season and a deal may allow Lowe to cut short his gardening leave in order to join Williams. Felipe Massa, the 35-year-old Brazilian who called time on his career at the end of last season, is set to re-sign for Williams once Bottas’ move is complete.

Lowe is understood to want to embrace the challenge of team management with Williams. He worked for them during their heyday of the 80s and 90s and was the head of electronic research between 1987 and 1993 when Williams won three drivers’ and three constructors’ championships, including Nigel Mansell’s title in 1992.

He was the head of research and development for McLaren during Mika Hakkinen’s two championships of 1998 and 1999 and was the engineering director for the team when Lewis Hamilton took his first title in 2008. He moved to Mercedes in 2013 as technical director and has overseen the dominance of their cars during the hybrid era

The timing is not the best for Mercedes. Formula One is to introduce rule changes this season that require radical alterations to all cars. Lowe will have already been involved in development, because Mercedes will have been able to begin work on their new model earlier than other teams such has been their supremacy. His departure comes at a crucial time, with testing set to begin in late February.