Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is engaged in final negotiations to sell part of his ownership stake in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
The deal values Mercedes at £4.6 billion – a record for an F1 team – after the McLaren team was appraised at £3.5 billion in a change of corporate structure last September.
The Austrian executive, who owns one-third of Mercedes F1, plans to divest a stake approximately 5%.
The 53-year-old would stay on as team boss and CEO should the deal proceed.
Ownership Breakdown
Remaining partners in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes-Benz and industrial group Ineos, who both hold one-third of the company.
A Mercedes spokesperson stated: "We are providing no comment on the matter. The governance of the team will remain unchanged, and all three partners are fully committed to continued achievements of Mercedes-Benz in F1."
Valuation Increase
The deal would represent a significant increase in worth of the Mercedes team after Ineos Group bought its stake for £208m in 2022.
This surge reflects the growth in valuations of F1 teams recently due to the growing popularity of Formula 1 globally.
This was also seen in the box-office performance of the F1 movie featuring Brad Pitt, which debuted in summer 2023 and earned more than $630 million (£458 million) at the box office.
It is Pitt's most successful movie and the highest-earning sports movie ever released.
Present Standings
The Mercedes team are runner-up in the constructors' championship, trailing McLaren, with three Grands Prix remaining this season.
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's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes won a record eight straight constructors' championships and seven driver championships, six for Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, from 2014 to 2021.
