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

The deal values Mercedes at £4.6bn – an unprecedented figure for an F1 team – after McLaren were valued at £3.5 billion in an adjustment to ownership structure last September.

The Austrian executive, who owns one-third of the Mercedes F1 operation, plans to divest a stake in the region of five percent.

The 53-year-old will remain as team principal and CEO if the sale goes through.

Shareholder Breakdown

Remaining partners in the team are Mercedes and industrial group Ineos, who each also own a third of the enterprise.

A Mercedes spokesperson stated: "We are providing no official statement on this. The management structure of Mercedes F1 will remain unchanged, and all three partners are fully committed to the ongoing success of Mercedes-Benz in Formula One."

Valuation Increase

This arrangement would represent a significant increase in worth of Mercedes F1 since Ineos Group bought its stake for £208 million in 2022.

The rise reflects the growth in valuations of Formula 1 outfits in the past few years due to the increasing appeal of Formula 1 globally.

This trend was evident with the box-office performance of the Formula 1 film featuring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which debuted in summer 2023 and earned over $630 million (£458 million) at the box office.

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

Current Performance

The Mercedes team are runner-up in the constructors' championship, trailing McLaren Racing, with three Grands Prix left this season.

Their lead driver George Russell has won two of the 21 grands prix so far and is in fourth place in the individual standings after McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.

The team secured a record eight consecutive team titles and seven drivers' titles, six for Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, between 2014 and 2021.