Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is in advanced talks to sell a portion of his shareholding in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
The deal values the Mercedes team at £4.6 billion – an unprecedented figure for a Formula 1 squad – following McLaren was appraised at £3.5bn in an adjustment to ownership structure last September.
The Austrian executive, who owns one-third of Mercedes F1, plans to divest a shareholding in the region of five percent.
Wolff, aged 53 will remain as team principal and chief executive officer should the deal proceed.
Ownership Breakdown
The other shareholders in the team are Mercedes-Benz and chemicals giant Ineos, who each also own one-third of the company.
An official representative said: "We are providing no official statement on this. The governance of the team will remain unchanged, and each shareholder are fully committed to the ongoing success of Mercedes-Benz in Formula One."
Valuation Growth
The deal signifies a substantial rise in worth of Mercedes F1 after Ineos acquired its share for £208 million in 2022.
The rise demonstrates the expansion in valuations of F1 teams in the past few years due to the increasing appeal of Formula 1 around the world.
This trend was evident with the box-office performance of the F1 movie starring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which debuted last summer and has grossed more than $630 million (£458m) at the box office.
It is Pitt's most successful film and the most successful sports movie ever released.
Current Standings
The Mercedes team are runner-up in the team standings, behind McLaren Racing, with three races remaining this season.
Mercedes' primary racer British driver George Russell has won 2 of the 21 races so far and is fourth in the individual standings after McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
The team won a unprecedented eight consecutive team titles and seven drivers' titles, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, between 2014 to 2021.
