Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is in final negotiations to offload a portion of his shareholding in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
The deal values the Mercedes team at £4.6 billion – an unprecedented figure for a Formula 1 squad – following the McLaren team were valued at £3.5bn in a change of corporate structure last September.
The Austrian executive, who holds a 33% stake of Mercedes F1, plans to divest a shareholding in the region of five percent.
The 53-year-old would stay on as team principal and chief executive officer should the deal proceed.
Shareholder Structure
The other shareholders in the team are Mercedes-Benz and chemicals giant Ineos Group, who each also own a third of the enterprise.
A Mercedes spokesperson said: "We are providing no comment on this. The governance of Mercedes F1 stays unaltered, and each shareholder are dedicated to the ongoing success of the brand in F1."
Financial Growth
This arrangement would represent a significant increase in worth of the Mercedes team since Ineos Group acquired its stake for £208m in 2022.
The rise reflects the growth in valuations of Formula 1 outfits recently as a consequence of the increasing appeal of Formula 1 globally.
This was also seen in the box-office performance of the Formula 1 film featuring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which was released in summer 2023 and earned more than $630 million (£458m) at the box office.
It is the actor's top-grossing movie and the most successful sports film to date.
Current Performance
The Mercedes team are runner-up in the team standings, behind McLaren, with three Grands Prix left in the current championship.
Mercedes' primary racer George Russell has won two of the 21 races so far and is fourth in the drivers' championship after McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes won a record eight straight team titles and seven drivers' titles, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, from 2014 to 2021.
