Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is engaged in final negotiations to sell a portion of his shareholding in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
The deal estimates the Mercedes team at £4.6bn – an unprecedented figure for a Formula 1 squad – after McLaren were valued at £3.5bn in an adjustment to ownership structure in September.
The Austrian executive, who owns one-third of Mercedes F1, would sell a shareholding in the region of 5%.
The 53-year-old will remain as team boss and CEO if the sale goes through.
Ownership Breakdown
Remaining partners in the team are Mercedes-Benz and industrial group Ineos Group, who each also own a third of the enterprise.
A Mercedes spokesperson stated: "We are providing no comment on this. The management structure of the team will remain unaltered, and all three partners are fully committed to continued achievements of Mercedes-Benz in F1."
Valuation Growth
The deal would represent a substantial rise in worth of the Mercedes team after Ineos Group bought its stake for £208 million in 2022.
This surge reflects the expansion in valuations of Formula 1 outfits in the past few years as a consequence of the growing popularity of Formula 1 globally.
This was also seen in the box-office performance of the Formula 1 film 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 movie and the highest-earning sports movie ever released.
Present Performance
The Mercedes team are runner-up in the constructors' championship, trailing McLaren, with three Grands Prix left in the current championship.
Their lead driver George Russell has secured victory in two of the 21 races so far and is in fourth place in the drivers' championship after McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes secured a record eight straight constructors' championships and seven drivers' titles, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, between 2014 to 2021.
