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 the Mercedes team at £4.6bn – an unprecedented figure for an F1 team – following McLaren were valued at £3.5 billion in an adjustment to ownership structure in September.
Wolff, who holds one-third of the Mercedes F1 operation, plans to divest a shareholding in the region of 5%.
The 53-year-old will remain as team principal and CEO should the deal proceed.
Shareholder Structure
Remaining partners in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes-Benz and industrial group Ineos, who each also own one-third of the enterprise.
A Mercedes spokesperson said: "We are providing no official statement on this. The management structure of the team will remain unchanged, and each shareholder are dedicated to continued achievements of Mercedes-Benz in Formula One."
Valuation Growth
The deal would represent a substantial rise in worth of the Mercedes team after Ineos Group acquired its share for £208m in 2022.
This surge demonstrates the expansion in market values of F1 teams in the past few years as a consequence of the growing popularity of Formula 1 globally.
This trend was evident with the success of the F1 movie featuring Brad Pitt, which was released last summer and earned more than $630m (£458 million) at the box office.
The film represents Pitt's most successful film and the highest-earning sports movie ever released.
Present Standings
The Mercedes team are runner-up in the team standings, trailing McLaren Racing, with three races left this season.
Their lead driver British driver George Russell has secured victory in 2 of the 21 grands prix this year and is in fourth place in the individual standings after McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes won a unprecedented eight consecutive team titles and seven driver championships, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, between 2014 to 2021.
