Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is in advanced talks to sell a portion of his shareholding in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
This transaction values Mercedes at £4.6 billion – a record for an F1 team – after the McLaren team were valued at £3.5 billion in a change of corporate structure in September.
Wolff, who owns a 33% stake of the Mercedes F1 operation, would sell a shareholding in the region of five percent.
Wolff, aged 53 will remain as team boss and chief executive officer if the sale goes through.
Shareholder Breakdown
The other shareholders in the team are Mercedes-Benz and industrial group Ineos, who each also own one-third of the company.
An official representative said: "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 Mercedes-Benz in F1."
Valuation Increase
The deal would represent a substantial rise in value of the Mercedes team after Ineos Group acquired its stake for £208m in 2022.
This surge reflects the growth in market values of F1 teams in the past few years due to the growing popularity of Formula 1 around the world.
This was also seen in the box-office performance of the F1 movie starring Brad Pitt, which was released in summer 2023 and earned more than $630m (£458m) at cinemas worldwide.
It is Pitt's most successful movie and the most successful sports movie to date.
Current Performance
Mercedes are second in the team standings, trailing McLaren, with three Grands Prix remaining in the current championship.
Their lead driver British driver George Russell has secured victory in two of the 21 grands prix so far and is in fourth place 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 constructors' championships and seven drivers' titles, six for Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, between 2014 to 2021.
