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

This transaction estimates Mercedes at £4.6bn – a record for an F1 team – after the McLaren team were valued at £3.5 billion in a change of ownership structure last September.

The Austrian executive, who owns one-third of Mercedes F1, plans to divest a stake in the region of five percent.

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

Shareholder Structure

The other shareholders in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes and industrial group Ineos Group, who both hold one-third of the enterprise.

A Mercedes spokesperson stated: "We will be making no comment on this. The governance of the team will remain unchanged, and each shareholder are fully committed to continued achievements of the brand in F1."

Valuation Growth

The deal would represent a substantial rise in worth of Mercedes F1 since Ineos bought its stake for £208 million in 2022.

This surge demonstrates the expansion in valuations of F1 teams in the past few years due to the increasing appeal of the sport globally.

This trend was evident with the success of the F1 movie starring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which was released in summer 2023 and has grossed over $630 million (£458m) at cinemas worldwide.

The film represents Pitt's most successful film and the most successful sports film ever released.

Present Performance

The Mercedes team are second in the constructors' championship, trailing McLaren, with three races left in the current championship.

Their lead driver British driver George Russell has won two of the 21 races this year and is in fourth place in the individual standings behind McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.

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