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

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

The Austrian executive, who holds a 33% stake of Mercedes F1, plans to divest a stake approximately 5%.

Wolff, aged 53 would stay on as team principal and chief executive officer if the sale goes through.

Ownership Structure

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

An official representative stated: "We are providing no official statement on this. The governance of the team will remain unaltered, and each shareholder are dedicated to the ongoing success of Mercedes-Benz in Formula One."

Valuation Increase

The deal would represent a substantial rise in value of the Mercedes team since Ineos bought its stake for £208m in 2022.

This surge reflects the expansion in valuations of Formula 1 outfits recently as a consequence of the growing popularity of the sport around the world.

This trend was evident with the box-office performance of the F1 movie starring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which debuted last summer and earned more than $630m (£458 million) at the box office.

It is Pitt's most successful film and the highest-earning sports film to date.

Present Standings

Mercedes are second in the team standings, trailing McLaren, with three races left this season.

Mercedes' primary racer British driver George Russell has secured victory in 2 of the 21 races this year and is in fourth place in the drivers' championship after McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.

The team secured a unprecedented eight straight team titles and seven drivers' titles, six for Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, from 2014 to 2021.