Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is engaged in final negotiations to sell part of his ownership stake in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
The deal estimates Mercedes at £4.6bn – an unprecedented figure for a Formula 1 squad – following the McLaren team were valued at £3.5 billion in a change of ownership structure last September.
The Austrian executive, who owns a 33% stake of the Mercedes F1 operation, would sell a stake approximately 5%.
The 53-year-old will remain as team principal and chief executive officer if the sale goes through.
Ownership Breakdown
The other shareholders in the team are Mercedes-Benz and industrial group Ineos Group, who each also own one-third of the enterprise.
An official representative said: "We will be making no official statement on this. The management structure of Mercedes F1 stays unchanged, and each shareholder are fully committed to the ongoing success of the brand in F1."
Valuation Growth
This arrangement would represent a significant increase in value of the Mercedes team after Ineos bought its share for £208 million in 2022.
This surge reflects the expansion in market values of Formula 1 outfits in the past few years due to the increasing appeal of Formula 1 globally.
This was also seen in the success of the F1 movie starring Brad Pitt, which was released last summer and earned more than $630m (£458 million) at the box office.
The film represents the actor's top-grossing movie and the highest-earning sports movie to date.
Present Performance
The Mercedes team are second in the team standings, trailing McLaren Racing, with three Grands Prix remaining in the current championship.
Their lead driver British driver George Russell has secured victory in two of the 21 races this year and is fourth in the drivers' championship after McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes won a unprecedented eight consecutive team titles and seven drivers' titles, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, from 2014 to 2021.
