Toto Wolff is engaged in final negotiations to offload part of his shareholding in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
This transaction estimates the Mercedes team at £4.6 billion – a record for a Formula 1 squad – following the McLaren team were valued at £3.5bn in a change of corporate structure last September.
Wolff, who holds a 33% stake of Mercedes F1, plans to divest a shareholding in the region of 5%.
The 53-year-old will remain as team boss and chief executive officer if the sale goes through.
Shareholder Breakdown
The other shareholders in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes-Benz and industrial group Ineos Group, who each also own a third of the enterprise.
A Mercedes spokesperson stated: "We will be making no official statement on this. The management structure of the team stays unaltered, and all three partners are dedicated to continued achievements of the brand in Formula One."
Valuation Increase
This arrangement signifies a significant increase in value of the Mercedes team since Ineos Group acquired its share for £208 million in 2022.
This surge reflects the growth in valuations of F1 teams recently due to the increasing appeal of the sport around the world.
This trend was evident with the success of the Formula 1 film featuring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which was released last summer and has grossed more than $630 million (£458m) at the box office.
It is the actor's top-grossing movie and the highest-earning sports film to date.
Present Performance
The Mercedes team are second in the team standings, trailing McLaren, with three races left in the current championship.
Mercedes' primary racer George Russell has secured victory in two of the 21 races so far and is in fourth place in the individual standings after McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes secured a record eight straight team titles and seven drivers' titles, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, from 2014 to 2021.
