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Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is engaged in final negotiations to sell a portion of his shareholding in the Mercedes F1 outfit.

This transaction values the Mercedes team at £4.6bn – a record for an F1 team – after the McLaren team were valued at £3.5 billion in a change of corporate structure in September.

The Austrian executive, who owns a 33% stake of Mercedes F1, plans to divest a shareholding approximately five percent.

The 53-year-old would stay on as team boss and chief executive officer should the deal proceed.

Shareholder Breakdown

The other shareholders in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes and industrial group Ineos, who both hold one-third of the enterprise.

A Mercedes spokesperson said: "We will be making no official statement on the matter. The governance of Mercedes F1 stays unaltered, and each shareholder are dedicated to the ongoing success of the brand in Formula One."

Valuation Growth

This arrangement signifies a substantial rise in worth of the Mercedes team after Ineos Group bought its stake for £208m in 2022.

The rise reflects the growth in valuations of F1 teams in the past few years as a consequence of the increasing appeal of Formula 1 globally.

This was also seen in the success of the F1 movie featuring Brad Pitt, which debuted last summer and earned more than $630 million (£458m) at the box office.

The film represents Pitt's most successful movie and the most successful sports film ever released.

Present Standings

The Mercedes team are runner-up in the constructors' championship, trailing McLaren Racing, with three races left in the current championship.

Their lead driver George Russell has secured victory in 2 of the 21 grands prix this year and is in fourth place in the individual standings behind McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.

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