Toto Wolff is in advanced talks to sell a portion of his shareholding in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
This transaction values Mercedes at £4.6bn – an unprecedented figure for an F1 team – after McLaren was appraised at £3.5bn in a change of ownership structure last September.
Wolff, who holds one-third of Mercedes F1, would sell a shareholding in the region of five percent.
Wolff, aged 53 will remain as team principal and CEO if the sale goes through.
Shareholder Breakdown
Remaining partners in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes and chemicals giant Ineos, who both hold one-third of the company.
An official representative stated: "We will be making no comment on this. The management structure of Mercedes F1 will remain unaltered, and each shareholder are fully committed to continued achievements of Mercedes-Benz in Formula One."
Valuation Increase
The deal would represent a substantial rise in worth of the Mercedes team after Ineos acquired its share for £208m in 2022.
The rise reflects the growth in market values of Formula 1 outfits in the past few years as a consequence of the increasing appeal of the sport globally.
This was also seen in the success of the F1 movie featuring Brad Pitt, which debuted in summer 2023 and earned more than $630 million (£458 million) at the box office.
It is the actor's top-grossing film and the most successful sports movie ever released.
Present Standings
The Mercedes team are runner-up in the team standings, behind McLaren, with three races left in the current championship.
Mercedes' primary racer George Russell has won 2 of the 21 races 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 won a record eight consecutive constructors' championships and seven driver championships, six for Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, from 2014 and 2021.
