Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is engaged in advanced talks to sell part of his ownership stake in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
The deal estimates the Mercedes team at £4.6bn – a record for a Formula 1 squad – following the McLaren team was appraised at £3.5 billion in a change of corporate structure last September.
The Austrian executive, who owns a 33% stake of the Mercedes F1 operation, would sell a stake approximately five percent.
The 53-year-old will remain as team principal and CEO if the sale goes through.
Shareholder Structure
Remaining partners in the team are Mercedes-Benz and chemicals giant Ineos Group, who each also own a third of the enterprise.
An official representative stated: "We will be making no official statement on the matter. The governance of the team will remain unaltered, and all three partners are fully committed to continued achievements of the brand in Formula One."
Valuation Increase
This arrangement would represent a significant increase in worth of Mercedes F1 after Ineos acquired its share for £208 million in 2022.
The rise reflects the expansion in valuations of F1 teams in the past few years due to the growing popularity of Formula 1 around the world.
This trend was evident with the success of the F1 movie featuring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which was released in summer 2023 and has grossed more than $630 million (£458 million) at the box office.
The film represents Pitt's most successful movie and the highest-earning sports film ever released.
Current Performance
The Mercedes team are runner-up in the constructors' championship, trailing McLaren Racing, with three races remaining this season.
Mercedes' primary racer George Russell has won two of the 21 races so far and is in fourth place in the individual standings behind McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
The team won a unprecedented eight straight team titles and seven drivers' titles, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, from 2014 and 2021.
