Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is engaged in final negotiations to offload part of his ownership stake in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
This transaction estimates Mercedes at £4.6 billion – a record for an F1 team – following McLaren was appraised at £3.5 billion in a change of corporate structure in September.
The Austrian executive, who holds one-third of Mercedes F1, plans to divest a stake in the region of five percent.
The 53-year-old would stay on as team principal and CEO if the sale goes through.
Shareholder Breakdown
The other shareholders in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes and industrial group Ineos Group, who each also own a third of the enterprise.
An official representative said: "We are providing no official statement on this. The governance of the team will remain unaltered, and all three partners are fully committed to the ongoing success of the brand in Formula One."
Financial Growth
The deal signifies a substantial rise in value of the Mercedes team after Ineos Group acquired its stake for £208m in 2022.
The rise demonstrates the expansion in market values of Formula 1 outfits in the past few years due to the increasing appeal of the sport globally.
This trend was evident with the box-office performance of the Formula 1 film starring Brad Pitt, which debuted last summer and earned over $630m (£458m) at cinemas worldwide.
It is Pitt's most successful movie and the most successful sports film to date.
Present Performance
The Mercedes team are runner-up in the team standings, behind McLaren, with three races left in the current championship.
Mercedes' primary racer British driver George Russell has secured victory in two of the 21 races this year and is in fourth place in the drivers' championship behind McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes won a unprecedented eight consecutive team titles and seven driver championships, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, between 2014 and 2021.
