Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is engaged in final negotiations to offload a portion of his ownership stake in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
The deal values Mercedes at £4.6bn – a record for an F1 team – after McLaren was appraised at £3.5 billion in a change of corporate structure last September.
The Austrian executive, who holds a 33% stake of the Mercedes F1 operation, would sell a shareholding approximately 5%.
The 53-year-old will remain as team boss and CEO if the sale goes through.
Ownership Structure
Remaining partners in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes-Benz and industrial group Ineos, who each also own a third of the company.
An official representative stated: "We are providing no official statement on the matter. The governance of the team will remain unchanged, and each shareholder are fully committed to the ongoing success of the brand in Formula One."
Financial Growth
This arrangement signifies a substantial rise in worth of the Mercedes team since Ineos bought its share for £208 million in 2022.
This surge demonstrates the growth in valuations of Formula 1 outfits in the past few years as a consequence of the increasing appeal of Formula 1 globally.
This trend was evident with the box-office performance of the F1 movie featuring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which was released last summer and has grossed more than $630 million (£458 million) at cinemas worldwide.
The film represents the actor's top-grossing film and the most successful sports film to date.
Present Performance
Mercedes are runner-up in the team standings, behind McLaren Racing, with three Grands Prix remaining in the current championship.
Mercedes' primary racer George Russell has won 2 of the 21 races so far and is in fourth place in the drivers' championship after McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
The team won a record eight consecutive constructors' championships and seven drivers' titles, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, from 2014 to 2021.
