Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is engaged in final negotiations to offload part of his ownership stake in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
This transaction values Mercedes at £4.6 billion – an unprecedented figure for an F1 team – after the McLaren team was appraised at £3.5bn in an adjustment to ownership structure last September.
The Austrian executive, who holds a 33% stake of Mercedes F1, would sell a shareholding in the region of five percent.
The 53-year-old would stay on as team boss and CEO if the sale goes through.
Ownership Breakdown
The other shareholders in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes and chemicals giant Ineos Group, who both hold one-third of the enterprise.
A Mercedes spokesperson stated: "We will be making no comment on the matter. The governance of the team stays unaltered, and all three partners are fully committed to continued achievements of Mercedes-Benz in F1."
Financial Increase
The deal would represent a significant increase in value of the Mercedes team since Ineos Group bought its stake for £208 million in 2022.
This surge demonstrates the growth in valuations of F1 teams recently as a consequence of the growing popularity of Formula 1 around the world.
This was also seen in the box-office performance of the F1 movie featuring Brad Pitt, which debuted last summer and earned more than $630 million (£458m) at cinemas worldwide.
The film represents the actor's top-grossing film and the most successful sports movie ever released.
Present Performance
The Mercedes team are second in the team standings, trailing McLaren, with three races left in the current championship.
Mercedes' primary racer British driver George Russell has secured victory in 2 of the 21 grands prix so far and is in fourth place in the drivers' championship behind McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
The team won a record eight consecutive team titles and seven driver championships, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, between 2014 and 2021.
