Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is engaged in advanced talks to offload part of his ownership stake in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
This transaction estimates the Mercedes team at £4.6 billion – a record for an F1 team – 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, plans to divest a stake approximately five percent.
The 53-year-old will remain as team principal and CEO should the deal proceed.
Ownership Structure
Remaining partners in the team are Mercedes and industrial group Ineos Group, who both hold a third of the enterprise.
An official representative said: "We are providing no official statement on this. The governance of the team stays unaltered, and each shareholder are fully committed to the ongoing success of the brand in Formula One."
Valuation Growth
The deal would represent a significant increase in value of the Mercedes team after Ineos acquired its share for £208m in 2022.
The rise demonstrates the growth in valuations of F1 teams recently as a consequence of the increasing appeal of Formula 1 around the world.
This was also seen in the box-office performance of the F1 movie featuring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which debuted last summer and earned more than $630m (£458 million) at cinemas worldwide.
It is Pitt's most successful movie and the most successful sports film ever released.
Present Performance
The Mercedes team are runner-up in the constructors' championship, behind McLaren, with three Grands Prix remaining this season.
Their lead driver George Russell has secured victory in 2 of the 21 races this year and is in fourth place in the drivers' championship after McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
The team won a record eight consecutive constructors' championships and seven drivers' titles, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, between 2014 to 2021.
