Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is in final negotiations to sell part of his shareholding in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
This transaction values Mercedes at £4.6 billion – a record for a Formula 1 squad – after McLaren was appraised at £3.5 billion in an adjustment to corporate structure last September.
The Austrian executive, who holds one-third of Mercedes F1, plans to divest a shareholding approximately 5%.
Wolff, aged 53 would stay on as team boss and CEO if the sale goes through.
Shareholder Structure
Remaining partners in the team are Mercedes-Benz 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 governance of the team will remain unchanged, and each shareholder are fully committed to the ongoing success of the brand in Formula One."
Valuation Growth
The deal would represent a substantial rise in worth of the Mercedes team since Ineos bought its share for £208 million in 2022.
The rise demonstrates the growth in market values of F1 teams in the past few years as a consequence of the increasing appeal of Formula 1 around the world.
This trend was evident with the box-office performance of the F1 movie starring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which debuted last summer and has grossed over $630m (£458m) at the box office.
It is Pitt's most successful film and the most successful sports film to date.
Present Performance
The Mercedes team are runner-up in the team standings, behind McLaren, with three Grands Prix remaining in the current championship.
Mercedes' primary racer British driver George Russell has won two of the 21 races this year and is in fourth place in the individual standings behind McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes secured a unprecedented eight straight team titles and seven driver championships, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, between 2014 to 2021.
