Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is in advanced talks to sell part of his shareholding in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
This transaction values the Mercedes team at £4.6bn – a record for an F1 team – after McLaren was appraised at £3.5bn in a change of ownership structure last September.
Wolff, who holds a 33% stake of the Mercedes F1 operation, plans to divest a shareholding approximately five percent.
Wolff, aged 53 will remain as team boss and CEO should the deal proceed.
Shareholder Structure
The other shareholders in the team are Mercedes and chemicals giant Ineos, who both hold one-third of the company.
An official representative said: "We will be making no official statement on this. The governance of Mercedes F1 stays unaltered, and each shareholder are fully committed to continued achievements of Mercedes-Benz in F1."
Financial Growth
This arrangement would represent a significant increase in worth of the Mercedes team since Ineos Group acquired its share for £208 million in 2022.
The rise reflects the expansion in valuations of F1 teams recently as a consequence of the increasing appeal of Formula 1 around the world.
This trend was evident with the box-office performance of the Formula 1 film featuring Brad Pitt, which was released in summer 2023 and earned over $630m (£458 million) at the box office.
The film represents Pitt's most successful movie and the highest-earning sports movie to date.
Current Performance
Mercedes are second in the team standings, trailing McLaren Racing, with three races left in the current championship.
Mercedes' primary racer George Russell has won 2 of the 21 races this year and is fourth in the individual standings behind McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
The team won a record eight straight team titles and seven driver championships, six for Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, between 2014 to 2021.
