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Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is in final negotiations to offload a portion of his shareholding in the Mercedes F1 outfit.

The deal estimates Mercedes at £4.6bn – a record for a Formula 1 squad – following McLaren were valued at £3.5bn in an adjustment to corporate structure last September.

Wolff, who holds one-third of Mercedes F1, would sell a stake 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 Structure

Remaining partners in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes-Benz and chemicals giant Ineos, who each also own a third of the company.

An official representative said: "We will be making no official statement on this. The governance of Mercedes F1 stays unaltered, and all three partners are dedicated to the ongoing success of Mercedes-Benz in F1."

Financial Increase

The deal would represent a significant increase in value of the Mercedes team since Ineos Group acquired its share for £208m in 2022.

The rise demonstrates the growth in market values of Formula 1 outfits in the past few years as a consequence of the increasing appeal of the sport around the world.

This was also seen in the box-office performance of the Formula 1 film featuring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which was released in summer 2023 and earned more than $630 million (£458 million) at the box office.

It is Pitt's most successful film and the highest-earning sports movie ever released.

Current Performance

The Mercedes team are runner-up in the constructors' championship, behind McLaren, with three Grands Prix left this season.

Mercedes' primary racer George Russell has won 2 of the 21 grands prix so far and is fourth in the drivers' championship behind McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.

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