Toto Wolff is engaged in final negotiations to offload part of his ownership stake in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
The deal values Mercedes at £4.6bn – an unprecedented figure for a Formula 1 squad – following the McLaren team was appraised at £3.5 billion in a change of ownership structure last September.
The Austrian executive, who owns one-third of the Mercedes F1 operation, would sell a shareholding approximately 5%.
The 53-year-old would stay on as team principal and CEO should the deal proceed.
Shareholder Structure
The other shareholders in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes-Benz and chemicals giant Ineos, who both hold one-third of the company.
An official representative stated: "We are providing no official statement on the matter. The governance of the team stays unaltered, and each shareholder are dedicated to the ongoing success of the brand in F1."
Valuation Increase
The deal would represent a significant increase in value of the Mercedes team since Ineos Group acquired its share for £208 million in 2022.
The rise reflects the growth in market values of F1 teams in the past few years as a consequence of the increasing appeal of the sport around the world.
This trend was evident with the box-office performance of the F1 movie starring Brad Pitt, which was released in summer 2023 and has grossed more than $630m (£458m) at the box office.
It is Pitt's most successful film and the highest-earning sports movie ever released.
Current Standings
The Mercedes team are second in the constructors' championship, trailing McLaren Racing, with three Grands Prix remaining in the current championship.
Mercedes' primary racer George Russell has secured victory in two of the 21 races this year and is fourth in the individual standings after McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
The team won a record eight consecutive constructors' championships and seven driver championships, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, from 2014 to 2021.
