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Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is in final negotiations to offload a portion of his ownership stake in the Mercedes F1 outfit.

This transaction values the Mercedes team at £4.6bn – a record for a Formula 1 squad – following McLaren was appraised at £3.5bn in a change of corporate structure last September.

The Austrian executive, who holds a 33% stake of the Mercedes F1 operation, plans to divest a shareholding approximately five percent.

Wolff, aged 53 would stay on as team boss and CEO should the deal proceed.

Shareholder Breakdown

Remaining partners in the team are Mercedes-Benz and industrial group Ineos Group, who both hold a third of the enterprise.

An official representative said: "We will be making no comment on this. The management structure of Mercedes F1 stays unaltered, and all three partners are fully committed to the ongoing success of Mercedes-Benz in Formula One."

Valuation Growth

This arrangement would represent a substantial rise in value of the Mercedes team after Ineos acquired its share for £208m in 2022.

The rise demonstrates the expansion in valuations of F1 teams in the past few years due to the growing popularity of the sport globally.

This was also seen in the success of the F1 movie starring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which debuted in summer 2023 and has grossed more than $630 million (£458 million) at the box office.

It is Pitt's most successful movie and the highest-earning sports film ever released.

Current Performance

The Mercedes team are runner-up in the constructors' championship, behind McLaren Racing, with three races remaining this season.

Mercedes' primary racer George Russell has secured victory in two of the 21 grands prix this year and is fourth in the drivers' championship after McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.

The team won a unprecedented eight consecutive team titles and seven drivers' titles, six for Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, from 2014 and 2021.