Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is in advanced talks to sell a portion of his ownership stake in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
The deal values the Mercedes team at £4.6bn – an unprecedented figure for a Formula 1 squad – after the McLaren team were valued at £3.5 billion in an adjustment to corporate structure in September.
The Austrian executive, who owns one-third of the Mercedes F1 operation, plans to divest a stake approximately five percent.
Wolff, aged 53 will remain as team boss and chief executive officer if the sale goes through.
Shareholder Structure
The other shareholders in the team are Mercedes-Benz and industrial group Ineos, who each also own one-third of the company.
A Mercedes spokesperson stated: "We are providing no official statement on this. The management structure of Mercedes F1 stays unchanged, and each shareholder are dedicated to the ongoing success of Mercedes-Benz in F1."
Valuation Growth
The deal would represent a substantial rise in worth of the Mercedes team after Ineos bought its share for £208m in 2022.
This surge reflects the expansion in valuations of F1 teams recently as a consequence of the increasing appeal of the sport globally.
This trend was evident with the success of the F1 movie featuring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which debuted in summer 2023 and earned over $630m (£458 million) at cinemas worldwide.
The film represents Pitt's most successful film and the most successful sports movie ever released.
Current Standings
Mercedes are second in the team standings, trailing McLaren, with three races left in the current championship.
Mercedes' primary racer British driver George Russell has secured victory in two of the 21 races so far and is in fourth place in the individual standings behind McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes won a unprecedented eight consecutive constructors' championships and seven driver championships, six for Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, between 2014 to 2021.
