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Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is engaged in final negotiations to offload a portion of his shareholding in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.

The deal estimates Mercedes at £4.6 billion – an unprecedented figure for a Formula 1 squad – after the McLaren team were valued at £3.5 billion in a change of corporate structure in September.

The Austrian executive, who owns one-third of the Mercedes F1 operation, would sell a shareholding in the region of five percent.

Wolff, aged 53 would stay on as team principal and chief executive officer should the deal proceed.

Ownership Breakdown

The other shareholders in the team are Mercedes-Benz and industrial group Ineos, who each also own a third of the enterprise.

An official representative stated: "We are providing no comment on this. The governance of the team stays unaltered, and all three partners are fully committed to the ongoing success of the brand in Formula One."

Financial Growth

The deal would represent a substantial rise in value of the Mercedes team since Ineos Group acquired its share for £208m in 2022.

The rise reflects the expansion in valuations of F1 teams in the past few years as a consequence of the growing popularity of the sport globally.

This was also seen in the box-office performance of the Formula 1 film starring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which was released last summer and earned over $630m (£458m) at the box office.

It is Pitt's most successful movie and the highest-earning sports film ever released.

Present Performance

Mercedes are runner-up in the team standings, trailing McLaren Racing, with three races remaining this season.

Mercedes' primary racer British driver George Russell has won 2 of the 21 grands prix so far and is fourth in the individual standings behind McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.

The team secured a record eight consecutive team titles and seven drivers' titles, six for Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, from 2014 to 2021.