Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is engaged in final negotiations to sell a portion of his shareholding in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
This transaction values Mercedes at £4.6 billion – a record for an F1 team – following McLaren were valued at £3.5bn in an adjustment to ownership structure in September.
Wolff, who owns a 33% stake of Mercedes F1, would sell a shareholding in the region of 5%.
The 53-year-old will remain as team principal and chief executive officer should the deal proceed.
Shareholder Breakdown
The other shareholders in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes and chemicals giant Ineos Group, who both hold one-third of the enterprise.
An official representative said: "We will be making no official statement on this. The management structure of the team stays unaltered, and all three partners are fully committed to continued achievements of the brand in F1."
Valuation Increase
This arrangement would represent a substantial rise in worth of the Mercedes team after Ineos acquired its share for £208 million in 2022.
This surge demonstrates the growth in valuations of F1 teams recently due to the growing popularity of the sport around the world.
This was also seen in the success of the F1 movie starring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which was released last summer and earned more than $630m (£458m) at the box office.
It is the actor's top-grossing film and the most successful sports movie to date.
Current 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 won 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 Racing's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes won a unprecedented eight straight team titles and seven driver championships, six for Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, from 2014 and 2021.
