Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is in final negotiations to offload a portion of his ownership stake in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
The deal estimates Mercedes at £4.6 billion – an unprecedented figure for a Formula 1 squad – after the McLaren team were valued at £3.5bn in a change of ownership structure last September.
The Austrian executive, who owns a 33% stake of Mercedes F1, would sell a shareholding approximately five percent.
Wolff, aged 53 will remain as team principal and CEO if the sale goes through.
Ownership Structure
The other shareholders in the team are Mercedes-Benz and chemicals giant Ineos, who both hold a third of the enterprise.
An official representative stated: "We will be making no official statement on the matter. The governance of the team stays unchanged, and each shareholder are fully committed to continued achievements of the brand in Formula One."
Financial Growth
This arrangement would represent a substantial rise in worth of the Mercedes team after Ineos Group bought its share for £208 million in 2022.
This surge demonstrates the growth in market values of F1 teams recently as a consequence of the growing popularity of Formula 1 globally.
This was also seen in the success of the F1 movie featuring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which debuted in summer 2023 and earned over $630m (£458m) at cinemas worldwide.
The film represents the actor's top-grossing movie and the most successful sports movie to date.
Present Performance
The Mercedes team are second in the team standings, trailing McLaren Racing, with three races remaining in the current championship.
Mercedes' primary racer George Russell has won two of the 21 grands prix so far and is fourth 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 consecutive constructors' championships and seven driver championships, six for Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, from 2014 to 2021.
