Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is engaged in final negotiations to offload part of his ownership stake in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
This transaction estimates the Mercedes team at £4.6bn – an unprecedented figure for a Formula 1 squad – after the McLaren team was appraised at £3.5bn in an adjustment to ownership structure last September.
The Austrian executive, who holds one-third of the Mercedes F1 operation, would sell a shareholding in the region of five percent.
The 53-year-old will remain as team principal and CEO should the deal proceed.
Ownership Breakdown
Remaining partners in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes-Benz and chemicals giant Ineos, who each also own a third of the company.
A Mercedes spokesperson stated: "We are providing no comment on this. The governance of Mercedes F1 stays unchanged, and each shareholder are dedicated to continued achievements of Mercedes-Benz in F1."
Financial Growth
The deal would represent a significant increase in value of the Mercedes team after Ineos Group bought its stake for £208m in 2022.
The rise demonstrates the expansion in market values of Formula 1 outfits in the past few years due to the increasing appeal of the sport around the world.
This was also seen in the success of the F1 movie featuring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which debuted in summer 2023 and earned more than $630m (£458m) at cinemas worldwide.
It is the actor's top-grossing movie and the highest-earning sports movie to date.
Present Performance
The Mercedes team are runner-up in the constructors' championship, trailing McLaren, with three races left in the current championship.
Mercedes' primary racer British driver George Russell has won two of the 21 grands prix so far and is in fourth place in the drivers' championship behind McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
The team secured a record eight straight team titles and seven driver championships, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, between 2014 to 2021.
