Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is engaged in advanced talks to offload a portion of his shareholding in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
This transaction estimates Mercedes at £4.6 billion – a record for an F1 team – after the McLaren team were valued at £3.5bn in a change of corporate structure in September.
The Austrian executive, who owns a 33% stake of Mercedes F1, plans to divest a stake approximately 5%.
The 53-year-old would stay on as team boss and CEO if the sale goes through.
Shareholder Structure
Remaining partners in the team are Mercedes and chemicals giant Ineos, who both hold a third of the enterprise.
A Mercedes spokesperson said: "We are providing no official statement on this. The management structure of Mercedes F1 stays unaltered, and each shareholder are dedicated to the ongoing success of the brand in Formula One."
Valuation Growth
This arrangement would represent a significant increase in value of the Mercedes team after Ineos Group bought its share for £208 million in 2022.
This surge demonstrates the growth in market values of F1 teams recently due to the growing popularity of Formula 1 around the world.
This trend was evident with the box-office performance of the Formula 1 film featuring Brad Pitt, which debuted last summer and earned more than $630m (£458 million) at cinemas worldwide.
The film represents Pitt's most successful movie and the highest-earning sports movie to date.
Present Performance
The Mercedes team are runner-up in the team standings, behind McLaren Racing, with three races left this season.
Mercedes' primary racer British driver George Russell has won 2 of the 21 races this year and is in fourth place in the drivers' championship behind McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes won a unprecedented eight straight constructors' championships and seven driver championships, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, from 2014 to 2021.
