Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is engaged in final negotiations to sell a portion of his ownership stake in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
This transaction estimates Mercedes at £4.6bn – an unprecedented figure for an F1 team – after McLaren were valued at £3.5 billion in a change of ownership structure last September.
The Austrian executive, who owns one-third of the Mercedes F1 operation, plans to divest a shareholding approximately five percent.
Wolff, aged 53 will remain as team principal and CEO if the sale goes through.
Shareholder Breakdown
The other shareholders in the team are Mercedes-Benz and chemicals giant Ineos, who both hold a third of the company.
An official representative stated: "We are providing no official statement on this. The management structure of Mercedes F1 will remain unchanged, and each shareholder are fully committed to continued achievements of the brand in F1."
Valuation Growth
The deal signifies a significant increase in value of the Mercedes team after Ineos acquired its share for £208 million in 2022.
This surge demonstrates the growth in valuations of Formula 1 outfits recently due to the increasing appeal of Formula 1 globally.
This was also seen in the box-office performance of the F1 movie featuring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which debuted last summer and earned more than $630m (£458m) at the box office.
It is Pitt's most successful movie and the highest-earning sports movie ever released.
Current Performance
The Mercedes team are runner-up in the team standings, behind McLaren, with three races remaining this season.
Their lead driver George Russell has won two of the 21 races so far and is fourth in the individual standings after McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
The team won a unprecedented eight consecutive team titles and seven driver championships, six for Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, from 2014 and 2021.
