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Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is in advanced talks to sell a portion of his shareholding in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.

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

The Austrian executive, who holds a 33% stake of Mercedes F1, plans to divest a stake approximately five percent.

The 53-year-old will remain as team principal and chief executive officer if the sale goes through.

Shareholder Structure

Remaining partners in the team are Mercedes-Benz and chemicals giant Ineos Group, who each also own a third of the enterprise.

An official representative said: "We are providing no official statement on this. The management structure of the team will remain unchanged, and all three partners are fully committed to the ongoing success of Mercedes-Benz in Formula One."

Valuation Increase

The deal would represent a significant increase in worth of Mercedes F1 since Ineos bought its share for £208m in 2022.

This surge reflects the growth in valuations of F1 teams in the past few years due to the growing popularity of Formula 1 globally.

This was also seen in the success of the F1 movie featuring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which was released in summer 2023 and earned more than $630 million (£458m) at cinemas worldwide.

The film represents Pitt's most successful film and the highest-earning sports movie to date.

Current Performance

The Mercedes team are second in the team standings, trailing McLaren Racing, with three races remaining this season.

Mercedes' primary racer British driver George Russell has won two of the 21 grands prix this year and is fourth in the drivers' championship behind McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.

Mercedes won a record eight straight team titles and seven driver championships, six for Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, between 2014 to 2021.