Toto Wolff believes Mercedes' difficult race in Monaco was actually the moment the new-look team began to operate at close to the best of their ability.
The defending world champion's had to deal with several significant changes for 2017, not just in regulations with the design rules but operationally after world champion Nico Rosberg retired and technical director and de facto team boss Paddy Lowe left to join Williams.
Though the impact was not severe, in that Mercedes has remained very much at the front of the grid albeit now in a huge battle with Ferrari, Wolff admitted the changes in personnel meant the early stages of the year were not ideal.
"We had a bit of a bumpy start," said the Austrian. "Testing didn't go as expected and then the first couple of races were so-so. We didn't quite find the setup window that functioned the right way on the car.
"But slowly we got there. We had a terrible weekend in Monaco but it gave us good direction. Sometimes these bad moments help you in the long run, and it did. Since then we've been doing okay."
In Monaco, Lewis Hamilton would start 12th and Valtteri Bottas would finish off the podium as tyre issues severly impacted performance, that caused the Brackley-based team into a period of hard evaluation and solution-finding. Three wins in four races since and the start of once again appearing the dominant force would therefore, back-up Wolff's claim.
He himself, who is known for his meticulous style of leadership, took on greater responsibilities after Lowe's departure and believes Mercedes should not fear change as even the most successful team can always find improvements.
"Change happens. It needs to happen. A racing team like Mercedes is not a static organisation. You cannot just freeze it," he said.
"There is very good young talent coming up that obviously want to progress in their career. You have new challenges, new regulations, the odd inefficiency you need to tackle.
"It is a constant process. Darwin said the species that is most adaptive is going to survive. The team is a species that is changing all the time."
