Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is engaged in final negotiations to sell a portion of his shareholding in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
This transaction values Mercedes at £4.6 billion – an unprecedented figure for an F1 team – after McLaren was appraised at £3.5bn in a change of ownership structure in September.
Wolff, who holds one-third of Mercedes F1, plans to divest a shareholding in the region of five percent.
The 53-year-old will remain as team principal and chief executive officer if the sale goes through.
Ownership Breakdown
Remaining partners in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes and industrial group Ineos Group, who each also own a third of the company.
A Mercedes spokesperson said: "We will be making no official statement on this. The governance of Mercedes F1 stays unaltered, and each shareholder are fully committed to continued achievements of Mercedes-Benz in Formula One."
Financial Growth
This arrangement would represent a substantial rise in value of the Mercedes team after Ineos Group bought its share for £208 million in 2022.
This surge demonstrates the growth in market values of F1 teams in the past few years as a consequence of the increasing appeal of Formula 1 around the world.
This trend was evident with the box-office performance of the Formula 1 film starring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which debuted in summer 2023 and earned over $630m (£458m) at the box office.
It is the actor's top-grossing film and the highest-earning sports film ever released.
Present Standings
The Mercedes team are runner-up in the constructors' championship, trailing McLaren Racing, with three races remaining this season.
Mercedes' primary racer British driver George Russell has secured victory in two of the 21 races so far and is fourth in the drivers' championship behind McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
The team won a unprecedented eight straight constructors' championships and seven drivers' titles, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, between 2014 to 2021.
