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Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is engaged in advanced talks to offload a portion of his shareholding in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.

The deal values the Mercedes team at £4.6bn – a record for a Formula 1 squad – after the McLaren team was appraised at £3.5 billion in a change of corporate structure last September.

The Austrian executive, who holds one-third of Mercedes F1, would sell a shareholding approximately five percent.

The 53-year-old will remain as team boss and chief executive officer if the sale goes through.

Ownership Breakdown

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

An official representative said: "We will be making no comment on this. The management structure of the team stays unchanged, and each shareholder are dedicated to the ongoing success of the brand in Formula One."

Valuation Increase

This arrangement signifies a substantial rise in value of Mercedes F1 after Ineos Group acquired its share for £208m in 2022.

This surge reflects the growth in market values of Formula 1 outfits recently as a consequence of the growing popularity of the sport globally.

This was also seen in the box-office performance of the F1 movie featuring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which debuted in summer 2023 and earned over $630m (£458m) at cinemas worldwide.

The film represents Pitt's most successful film and the highest-earning sports film to date.

Current Performance

Mercedes are runner-up in the constructors' championship, behind McLaren, with three Grands Prix left in the current championship.

Their lead driver George Russell has secured victory in two of the 21 races so far and is fourth in the drivers' championship behind McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.

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