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Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is engaged in advanced talks to offload a portion of his ownership stake in the Mercedes F1 outfit.

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

Wolff, who holds one-third of Mercedes F1, plans to divest a shareholding approximately 5%.

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

Ownership Structure

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

An official representative said: "We will be making no official statement on the matter. The governance of the team stays unchanged, and all three partners are dedicated to continued achievements of Mercedes-Benz in F1."

Valuation Increase

The deal signifies a significant increase in value of the Mercedes team since Ineos bought its share for £208 million in 2022.

The rise demonstrates the expansion in market values of F1 teams 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 cinemas worldwide.

It is Pitt's most successful film and the most successful sports movie to date.

Current Standings

The Mercedes team are runner-up in the team standings, trailing McLaren, with three races left this season.

Mercedes' primary racer British driver George Russell has won two of the 21 grands prix so far and is fourth in the individual standings after 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, between 2014 to 2021.