Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is in final negotiations to offload a portion of his shareholding in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
This transaction estimates the Mercedes team at £4.6bn – an unprecedented figure for an F1 team – after the McLaren team was appraised at £3.5 billion in a change of corporate structure last September.
The Austrian executive, who holds one-third of Mercedes F1, would sell a stake approximately five percent.
The 53-year-old would stay on as team boss and CEO should the deal proceed.
Shareholder Breakdown
Remaining partners in the team are Mercedes-Benz and industrial group Ineos, who both hold a third of the enterprise.
A Mercedes spokesperson stated: "We are providing no official statement on the matter. The management structure of Mercedes F1 stays unaltered, and all three partners are fully committed to continued achievements of the brand in F1."
Valuation Growth
This arrangement would represent a substantial rise in value of Mercedes F1 after Ineos Group acquired its stake for £208m in 2022.
This surge reflects the expansion in market values of Formula 1 outfits in the past few years as a consequence of the growing popularity of Formula 1 around the world.
This was also seen in the box-office performance of the F1 movie starring Brad Pitt, which debuted last summer and earned over $630 million (£458 million) at cinemas worldwide.
It is the actor's top-grossing movie and the most successful sports movie ever released.
Present Performance
Mercedes are second in the constructors' championship, trailing McLaren, with three races left in the current championship.
Mercedes' primary racer British driver George Russell has won two of the 21 grands prix so far and is fourth in the individual standings behind McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
The team secured a record eight consecutive constructors' championships and seven drivers' titles, six for Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, between 2014 and 2021.
