Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is engaged in final negotiations to offload a portion of his shareholding in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
The deal values Mercedes at £4.6 billion – a record for an F1 team – after McLaren was appraised at £3.5 billion in a change of corporate structure in September.
Wolff, who owns one-third of Mercedes F1, plans to divest a stake approximately five percent.
The 53-year-old will remain as team principal and CEO should the deal proceed.
Shareholder Breakdown
The other shareholders in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes-Benz and chemicals giant Ineos Group, who each also own one-third of the enterprise.
An official representative stated: "We will be making no official statement on the matter. The governance of Mercedes F1 will remain unchanged, and all three partners are fully committed to continued achievements of the brand in Formula One."
Valuation Increase
This arrangement would represent a substantial rise in worth of Mercedes F1 after Ineos Group acquired its stake for £208m in 2022.
This surge reflects the expansion in valuations of F1 teams in the past few years due to the growing popularity of Formula 1 around the world.
This trend was evident with the success of the Formula 1 film featuring Brad Pitt, which was released last summer and earned over $630 million (£458 million) at the box office.
The film represents Pitt's most successful movie and the highest-earning sports film to date.
Present Performance
Mercedes are second in the constructors' championship, trailing McLaren Racing, with three races left this season.
Their lead driver British driver George Russell has won 2 of the 21 races so far and is fourth in the individual standings after McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
The team won a record eight consecutive constructors' championships and seven driver championships, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, from 2014 and 2021.
