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Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is in advanced talks to sell a portion of his shareholding in the Mercedes F1 outfit.

This transaction values the Mercedes team at £4.6 billion – a record for a Formula 1 squad – after the McLaren team was appraised at £3.5 billion in an adjustment to corporate structure last September.

The Austrian executive, who holds a 33% stake of the Mercedes F1 operation, plans to divest a stake in the region of 5%.

Wolff, aged 53 will remain as team principal and chief executive officer should the deal proceed.

Ownership Structure

Remaining partners in the team are Mercedes and chemicals giant Ineos, who both hold a third of the enterprise.

An official representative stated: "We will be making no comment on the matter. The governance of Mercedes F1 will remain unchanged, and each shareholder are fully committed to continued achievements of Mercedes-Benz in Formula One."

Valuation Increase

This arrangement would represent a significant increase in worth of Mercedes F1 since Ineos Group acquired its share for £208 million in 2022.

The rise demonstrates the growth in valuations of F1 teams recently due to the increasing appeal of the sport around the world.

This was also seen in the box-office performance of the F1 movie featuring Brad Pitt, which was released in summer 2023 and earned over $630m (£458m) at the box office.

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

Current Performance

Mercedes are runner-up in the team standings, behind McLaren Racing, with three Grands Prix remaining in the current championship.

Mercedes' primary racer British driver George Russell has secured victory in two of the 21 grands prix so far and is fourth in the individual standings behind McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.

Mercedes won a record eight straight team titles and seven drivers' titles, six for Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, from 2014 and 2021.