Toto Wolff is engaged in final negotiations to sell a portion of his ownership stake in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
The deal estimates Mercedes at £4.6bn – an unprecedented figure for an F1 team – after McLaren was appraised at £3.5bn in an adjustment to ownership structure in September.
The Austrian executive, who owns one-third of the Mercedes F1 operation, would sell a stake approximately 5%.
Wolff, aged 53 will remain as team principal and chief executive officer if the sale goes through.
Shareholder Breakdown
Remaining partners in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes and chemicals giant Ineos, who each also own one-third of the company.
An official representative said: "We will be making no comment on this. The governance of the team stays unaltered, and each shareholder are fully committed to continued achievements of the brand in F1."
Valuation Growth
This arrangement would represent a substantial rise in value of Mercedes F1 since Ineos Group acquired its stake for £208 million in 2022.
The rise demonstrates the expansion in valuations 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 F1 movie featuring Brad Pitt, which was released in summer 2023 and earned more than $630 million (£458m) at cinemas worldwide.
It is the actor's top-grossing film and the most successful sports film to date.
Present Standings
The Mercedes team are second in the constructors' championship, behind McLaren, with three races remaining this season.
Mercedes' primary racer British driver George Russell has won two of the 21 grands prix this year and is fourth in the drivers' championship behind McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes won a record eight straight constructors' championships and seven drivers' titles, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, between 2014 and 2021.
