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

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

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

Wolff, aged 53 will remain as team boss and chief executive officer if the sale goes through.

Shareholder Structure

Remaining partners in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes-Benz and industrial group Ineos Group, who each also own a third of the enterprise.

An official representative stated: "We are providing no official statement on the matter. The management structure of the team will remain unchanged, and each shareholder are fully committed to the ongoing success of Mercedes-Benz in Formula One."

Valuation Growth

This arrangement signifies a substantial rise in worth of the Mercedes team after Ineos Group acquired its stake for £208 million in 2022.

This surge demonstrates the growth in valuations of Formula 1 outfits in the past few years due to the growing popularity of Formula 1 globally.

This trend was evident with the success of the F1 movie featuring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which debuted in summer 2023 and earned over $630m (£458m) at the box office.

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

Present Performance

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

Their lead driver British driver George Russell has won two of the 21 races this year and is in fourth place in the individual standings behind McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.

Mercedes won a unprecedented eight consecutive team titles and seven driver championships, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, from 2014 and 2021.