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Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is in advanced talks to offload a portion of his shareholding in the Mercedes F1 outfit.

The deal values the Mercedes team at £4.6bn – an unprecedented figure for a Formula 1 squad – after McLaren were valued at £3.5bn in an adjustment to corporate structure in September.

The Austrian executive, who owns a 33% stake of Mercedes F1, would sell a stake approximately 5%.

Wolff, aged 53 would stay on as team boss and chief executive officer if the sale goes through.

Shareholder Structure

Remaining partners in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes-Benz and chemicals giant Ineos Group, who each also own a third of the company.

An official representative said: "We will be making no comment on this. The governance of the team stays unaltered, and all three partners are fully committed to the ongoing success of Mercedes-Benz in Formula One."

Financial Growth

This arrangement signifies a substantial rise in worth of the Mercedes team since Ineos Group acquired its share for £208m in 2022.

This surge demonstrates the growth in valuations of Formula 1 outfits in the past few years due to the increasing appeal of Formula 1 globally.

This was also seen in the box-office performance of the F1 movie starring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which debuted in summer 2023 and has grossed more than $630 million (£458 million) at the box office.

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

Present Performance

The Mercedes team are runner-up in the team standings, trailing McLaren, with three Grands Prix remaining this season.

Mercedes' primary racer British driver George Russell has secured victory in two of the 21 grands prix so far and is in fourth place in the drivers' championship behind McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.

The team won a unprecedented eight consecutive constructors' championships and seven driver championships, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, from 2014 and 2021.