Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is in final negotiations to sell a portion of his ownership stake in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
The deal estimates Mercedes at £4.6bn – an unprecedented figure for an F1 team – after the McLaren team were valued at £3.5bn in an adjustment to ownership structure last September.
Wolff, who owns a 33% stake of Mercedes F1, plans to divest a shareholding approximately five percent.
The 53-year-old would stay on as team boss and CEO if the sale goes through.
Shareholder Breakdown
Remaining partners in the team are Mercedes-Benz and chemicals giant Ineos Group, who each also own a third of the company.
An official representative stated: "We will be making no official statement on this. The governance of the team will remain unaltered, and each shareholder are dedicated to continued achievements of Mercedes-Benz in Formula One."
Financial Growth
The deal would represent a substantial rise in worth of Mercedes F1 after Ineos Group bought its stake for £208m in 2022.
The rise demonstrates the expansion in market values of F1 teams recently due to the increasing appeal of the sport around the world.
This was also seen in the box-office performance of the F1 movie starring Brad Pitt, which debuted in summer 2023 and earned more than $630m (£458 million) at the box office.
The film represents the actor's top-grossing movie and the highest-earning sports film to date.
Current Performance
The Mercedes team are runner-up in the constructors' championship, trailing McLaren Racing, with three races left in the current championship.
Mercedes' primary racer George Russell has secured victory in two of the 21 races this year and is fourth in the drivers' championship behind McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
The team secured a record eight consecutive constructors' championships and seven driver championships, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, from 2014 to 2021.
