Toto Wolff is engaged in advanced talks to offload part of his ownership stake in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
The deal values the Mercedes team at £4.6 billion – a record for a Formula 1 squad – after McLaren was appraised at £3.5bn in an adjustment to corporate structure last September.
The Austrian executive, who holds a 33% stake of Mercedes F1, would sell a stake approximately five percent.
Wolff, aged 53 would stay on as team principal and CEO if the sale goes through.
Shareholder Structure
Remaining partners in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes-Benz and chemicals giant Ineos, who each also own a third of the enterprise.
A Mercedes spokesperson stated: "We will be making no official statement on the matter. The governance of Mercedes F1 will remain unaltered, and each shareholder are fully committed to the ongoing success of the brand in F1."
Financial Growth
The deal would represent a substantial rise in value of the Mercedes team after Ineos Group acquired its stake for £208 million in 2022.
The rise demonstrates the expansion in market values of F1 teams in the past few years as a consequence of the increasing appeal of Formula 1 globally.
This trend was evident with the box-office performance of the Formula 1 film starring Brad Pitt, which debuted last summer and earned over $630m (£458m) at cinemas worldwide.
It is Pitt's most successful film and the most successful sports movie to date.
Present Performance
Mercedes are second in the team standings, behind McLaren, with three Grands Prix left this season.
Their lead driver George Russell has won two of the 21 grands prix this year and is in fourth place in the drivers' championship after McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing'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, between 2014 to 2021.
