Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is engaged in advanced talks to offload a portion of his shareholding in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
The deal values the Mercedes team at £4.6bn – an unprecedented figure for an F1 team – after the McLaren team was appraised at £3.5bn in a change of corporate structure in September.
The Austrian executive, who holds one-third of the Mercedes F1 operation, plans to divest a shareholding approximately 5%.
The 53-year-old would stay on as team principal and chief executive officer if the sale goes through.
Shareholder Breakdown
Remaining partners in the team are Mercedes-Benz and industrial group Ineos, who both hold one-third of the enterprise.
A Mercedes spokesperson stated: "We will be making no official statement on the matter. The management structure of the team stays unaltered, and all three partners are dedicated to the ongoing success of the brand in Formula One."
Valuation Growth
The deal signifies a substantial rise in value of Mercedes F1 after Ineos acquired its stake for £208 million in 2022.
The rise reflects the growth in valuations of F1 teams recently as a consequence of the increasing appeal of Formula 1 around the world.
This trend was evident with the success of the F1 movie starring Brad Pitt, which was released last summer and earned over $630m (£458 million) at the box office.
The film represents Pitt's most successful movie and the most successful sports film ever released.
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 George Russell has secured victory in 2 of the 21 grands prix so far and is fourth in the individual standings behind McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes secured a record eight consecutive team titles and seven driver championships, six for Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, from 2014 and 2021.
