Toto Wolff is engaged in advanced talks to offload part of his shareholding in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
This transaction values the Mercedes team at £4.6bn – a record for an F1 team – after McLaren was appraised at £3.5bn in a change of corporate structure last September.
The Austrian executive, who owns a 33% stake of Mercedes F1, plans to divest a stake approximately five percent.
The 53-year-old will remain as team boss and chief executive officer should the deal proceed.
Shareholder Structure
Remaining partners in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes-Benz and industrial group Ineos, who each also own one-third of the company.
An official representative said: "We will be making no official statement on this. The governance of the team will remain unchanged, and all three partners are dedicated to the ongoing success of the brand in F1."
Valuation Growth
The deal signifies a substantial rise in worth of Mercedes F1 since Ineos Group acquired its stake for £208 million in 2022.
This surge demonstrates the expansion in valuations of F1 teams in the past few years due to the growing popularity of Formula 1 around the world.
This trend was evident with the box-office performance of the Formula 1 film featuring Brad Pitt, which was released last summer and earned over $630 million (£458m) at cinemas worldwide.
It is the actor's top-grossing film and the most successful sports movie to date.
Current Standings
Mercedes are second in the team standings, trailing McLaren, with three races left in the current championship.
Their lead driver George Russell has secured victory in two of the 21 races so far and is in fourth place in the individual standings after McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
The team won a record eight consecutive team titles and seven driver championships, six for Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, from 2014 to 2021.
