Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is in final negotiations to sell part of his ownership stake in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
This transaction values the Mercedes team at £4.6bn – a record for a Formula 1 squad – following McLaren were valued at £3.5bn in an adjustment to ownership structure last September.
The Austrian executive, who owns a 33% stake of the Mercedes F1 operation, plans to divest a stake approximately 5%.
The 53-year-old will remain as team principal and chief executive officer should the deal proceed.
Ownership Structure
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 are providing no comment on the matter. The management structure of Mercedes F1 stays unaltered, and each shareholder are fully committed to continued achievements of Mercedes-Benz in F1."
Valuation Increase
The deal signifies a significant increase in worth of the Mercedes team since Ineos Group bought its stake for £208m in 2022.
The rise demonstrates the expansion in market values of F1 teams in the past few years due to the growing popularity of the sport around the world.
This trend was evident with the success of the F1 movie featuring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which debuted last summer and earned over $630 million (£458m) at cinemas worldwide.
It is Pitt's most successful movie and the highest-earning sports movie to date.
Present Performance
Mercedes are runner-up in the team standings, trailing McLaren Racing, with three Grands Prix left in the current championship.
Their lead driver George Russell has won two of the 21 races so far and is in fourth place in the drivers' championship after McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes secured a unprecedented eight straight team titles and seven drivers' titles, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, from 2014 and 2021.
