Toto Wolff is engaged in final negotiations to offload a portion of his ownership stake in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
This transaction estimates the Mercedes team at £4.6 billion – a record for an F1 team – after McLaren were valued at £3.5bn in a change of ownership structure last September.
Wolff, who holds one-third of the Mercedes F1 operation, would sell a shareholding approximately 5%.
Wolff, aged 53 will remain as team principal and CEO if the sale goes through.
Shareholder Breakdown
Remaining partners in the team are Mercedes and industrial group Ineos, who each also own one-third of the enterprise.
An official representative stated: "We will be making no official statement on this. The management structure of the team will remain unchanged, and all three partners are dedicated to the ongoing success of the brand in F1."
Valuation Growth
This arrangement would represent a significant increase in value of the Mercedes team since Ineos bought its stake for £208 million in 2022.
This surge demonstrates the expansion in market values of F1 teams in the past few years as a consequence of the increasing appeal of the sport around the world.
This trend was evident with the box-office performance of the Formula 1 film featuring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which was released in summer 2023 and has grossed over $630m (£458 million) at the box office.
It is Pitt's most successful movie and the highest-earning sports movie ever released.
Present Performance
The Mercedes team are runner-up in the team standings, trailing McLaren, with three races remaining this season.
Their lead driver British driver George Russell has won 2 of the 21 races so far and is fourth in the individual standings after McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes secured a record eight straight team titles and seven drivers' titles, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, between 2014 to 2021.
