Toto Wolff is in final negotiations to sell part of his shareholding in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
This transaction values the Mercedes team at £4.6 billion – a record for an F1 team – following the McLaren team were valued at £3.5 billion in an adjustment to ownership structure in September.
The Austrian executive, who holds one-third of the Mercedes F1 operation, plans to divest a stake approximately 5%.
The 53-year-old would stay on as team boss and CEO if the sale goes through.
Ownership Breakdown
Remaining partners in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes-Benz and industrial group Ineos, who each also own a third of the company.
An official representative stated: "We are providing no official statement on this. The governance of the team stays unchanged, and each shareholder are dedicated to continued achievements of the brand in F1."
Valuation Growth
This arrangement would represent a significant increase in value of the Mercedes team after Ineos bought its share for £208 million in 2022.
This surge demonstrates the growth in market values of F1 teams recently as a consequence of the growing popularity of Formula 1 around the world.
This trend was evident with the box-office performance of the F1 movie featuring Brad Pitt, which debuted last summer and earned more than $630m (£458 million) at cinemas worldwide.
The film represents the actor's top-grossing film and the most successful sports movie ever released.
Present Standings
The Mercedes team are second in the constructors' championship, trailing McLaren Racing, with three races left this season.
Mercedes' primary racer British driver George Russell has secured victory in 2 of the 21 grands prix so far and is in fourth place in the drivers' championship after McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
The team won a record eight consecutive constructors' championships and seven driver championships, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, from 2014 and 2021.
