Toto Wolff is in final negotiations to offload a portion of his shareholding in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
This transaction estimates Mercedes at £4.6 billion – a record for an F1 team – following McLaren 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 principal and CEO if the sale goes through.
Shareholder Breakdown
The other shareholders in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes-Benz and chemicals giant Ineos, who each also own one-third of the enterprise.
An official representative stated: "We will be making no official statement on this. The governance of Mercedes F1 stays unchanged, and each shareholder are fully committed to continued achievements of Mercedes-Benz in Formula One."
Valuation Growth
The deal would represent a significant increase in worth of the Mercedes team since Ineos acquired its stake for £208 million 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 box-office performance of the Formula 1 film featuring Brad Pitt, which was released last summer and earned over $630 million (£458m) at cinemas worldwide.
The film represents Pitt's most successful movie and the highest-earning sports movie ever released.
Current Standings
Mercedes are runner-up in the constructors' championship, behind McLaren Racing, with three Grands Prix left this season.
Mercedes' primary racer British driver George Russell has won 2 of the 21 races so far and is fourth in the drivers' championship behind McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
The team won a unprecedented eight straight team titles and seven drivers' titles, six for Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, between 2014 and 2021.
