Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is engaged in final negotiations to sell part of his shareholding in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
This transaction estimates Mercedes at £4.6bn – an unprecedented figure for an F1 team – following the McLaren team was appraised at £3.5 billion in an adjustment to corporate structure in September.
The Austrian executive, who owns one-third of the Mercedes F1 operation, plans to divest a stake approximately 5%.
The 53-year-old will remain as team principal and chief executive officer if the sale goes through.
Shareholder Breakdown
The other shareholders in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes and industrial group Ineos Group, who both hold a third of the enterprise.
A Mercedes spokesperson stated: "We will be making no official statement on this. The management structure of Mercedes F1 stays unaltered, and each shareholder are fully committed to continued achievements of Mercedes-Benz in Formula One."
Valuation Growth
This arrangement would represent a significant increase in worth of Mercedes F1 after Ineos bought its stake for £208 million in 2022.
This surge reflects the growth in valuations of F1 teams in the past few years due to the increasing appeal of Formula 1 globally.
This trend was evident with the success of the F1 movie starring Brad Pitt, which was released in summer 2023 and has grossed more than $630m (£458m) at the box office.
The film represents Pitt's most successful film and the highest-earning sports movie to date.
Present Performance
The Mercedes team are second in the team standings, behind McLaren, with three Grands Prix remaining in the current championship.
Mercedes' primary racer British driver George Russell has won 2 of the 21 races this year and is in fourth place in the individual standings after McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
The team won a record eight straight team titles and seven drivers' titles, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, between 2014 and 2021.
