Toto Wolff is engaged in final negotiations to sell a portion of his shareholding in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
The deal estimates the Mercedes team at £4.6bn – a record for a Formula 1 squad – after McLaren were valued at £3.5bn in a change of corporate structure last September.
The Austrian executive, who owns a 33% stake of the Mercedes F1 operation, would sell a shareholding approximately 5%.
The 53-year-old would stay on as team principal and CEO if the sale goes through.
Ownership Structure
Remaining partners in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes and chemicals giant Ineos Group, who both hold a third of the company.
A Mercedes spokesperson stated: "We will be making no official statement on this. The management structure of the team stays unaltered, and all three partners are fully committed to the ongoing success of Mercedes-Benz in F1."
Valuation Increase
This arrangement would represent a significant increase in value of Mercedes F1 since Ineos acquired its stake for £208m in 2022.
This surge reflects the expansion in market values of Formula 1 outfits recently as a consequence of the increasing appeal of Formula 1 globally.
This trend was evident with the success of the F1 movie featuring Brad Pitt, which was released in summer 2023 and earned more than $630 million (£458 million) at cinemas worldwide.
It is Pitt's most successful film and the most successful sports film to date.
Present Standings
The Mercedes team are runner-up in the constructors' championship, trailing McLaren, with three races remaining in the current championship.
Their lead driver George Russell has won two of the 21 grands prix this year and is in fourth place in the drivers' championship behind McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes secured a record eight consecutive constructors' championships and seven driver championships, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, from 2014 and 2021.
