Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is in final negotiations to sell a portion of his ownership stake in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
This transaction values Mercedes at £4.6 billion – a record for an F1 team – following the McLaren team was appraised at £3.5 billion in a change of ownership structure last September.
Wolff, who holds a 33% stake of the Mercedes F1 operation, plans to divest a stake in the region of 5%.
The 53-year-old will remain as team principal and chief executive officer should the deal proceed.
Ownership Structure
Remaining partners in the team are Mercedes-Benz and industrial group Ineos, who both hold one-third of the company.
An official representative stated: "We are providing no comment on this. The governance of Mercedes F1 will remain unchanged, and each shareholder are dedicated to continued achievements of the brand in F1."
Financial Increase
The deal signifies a substantial rise in value of Mercedes F1 after Ineos Group acquired its stake for £208m in 2022.
The rise demonstrates the expansion in valuations of F1 teams in the past few years due to the increasing appeal of the sport globally.
This trend was evident with the success of the F1 movie featuring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which was released in summer 2023 and earned over $630m (£458 million) at the box office.
It is Pitt's most successful film and the highest-earning sports movie to date.
Current Performance
The Mercedes team are second in the team standings, trailing McLaren Racing, with three races left in the current championship.
Their lead driver British driver George Russell has secured victory in 2 of the 21 races so far and is fourth in the drivers' championship behind McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes won a record eight straight team titles and seven drivers' titles, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, from 2014 and 2021.
