Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is engaged in advanced talks to sell a portion of his ownership stake in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
The deal values the Mercedes team at £4.6 billion – an unprecedented figure for an F1 team – after McLaren was appraised at £3.5bn in a change of ownership structure last September.
Wolff, who holds a 33% stake of Mercedes F1, would sell a shareholding approximately 5%.
The 53-year-old will remain as team principal and CEO should the deal proceed.
Shareholder Structure
Remaining partners in the team are Mercedes-Benz and industrial group Ineos Group, who both hold one-third of the enterprise.
An official representative said: "We will be making no comment on the matter. The management structure of Mercedes F1 will remain unaltered, and each shareholder are fully committed to the ongoing success of the brand in Formula One."
Valuation Increase
This arrangement would represent a significant increase in value of the Mercedes team after Ineos Group acquired its stake for £208 million in 2022.
This surge reflects the expansion in market values of F1 teams in the past few years as a consequence of the growing popularity of the sport around the world.
This trend was evident with the box-office performance of the Formula 1 film starring Brad Pitt, which was released in summer 2023 and has grossed over $630m (£458m) at cinemas worldwide.
It is Pitt's most successful film and the most successful sports movie ever released.
Present Performance
Mercedes are runner-up in the constructors' championship, trailing McLaren Racing, with three races remaining in the current championship.
Mercedes' primary racer George Russell has won 2 of the 21 races this year and is in fourth place in the drivers' championship behind McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes won a record eight consecutive constructors' championships and seven driver championships, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, between 2014 to 2021.
