Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is engaged in final negotiations to sell a portion of his shareholding in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
This transaction values Mercedes at £4.6bn – a record for a Formula 1 squad – after the McLaren team were valued at £3.5bn in an adjustment to corporate structure in September.
Wolff, who holds a 33% stake of the Mercedes F1 operation, plans to divest a shareholding approximately five percent.
Wolff, aged 53 would stay on as team principal and chief executive officer if the sale goes through.
Ownership Breakdown
Remaining partners in the team are Mercedes-Benz and industrial group Ineos, who each also own one-third of the enterprise.
An official representative said: "We are providing no comment on the matter. The governance of Mercedes F1 stays unaltered, and all three partners are fully committed to continued achievements of Mercedes-Benz in Formula One."
Financial Increase
This arrangement would represent a substantial rise in worth of the Mercedes team after Ineos Group acquired its share for £208 million in 2022.
This surge demonstrates the growth in valuations of F1 teams recently due to the increasing appeal of Formula 1 globally.
This trend was evident with the box-office performance of the F1 movie starring Brad Pitt, which was released in summer 2023 and earned over $630m (£458m) at cinemas worldwide.
The film represents Pitt's most successful movie and the most successful sports film ever released.
Present Performance
Mercedes are runner-up in the constructors' championship, trailing McLaren, with three races remaining in the current championship.
Their lead driver British driver George Russell has won two of the 21 races so far and is in fourth place in the individual standings behind McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes secured a unprecedented eight straight team titles and seven driver championships, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, between 2014 to 2021.
