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

This transaction estimates Mercedes at £4.6bn – a record for a Formula 1 squad – after the McLaren team was appraised at £3.5 billion in a change of ownership structure last September.

Wolff, who owns one-third of Mercedes F1, would sell a shareholding approximately 5%.

The 53-year-old will remain as team principal and chief executive officer should the deal proceed.

Ownership Structure

Remaining partners in the team are Mercedes-Benz and industrial group Ineos, who both hold a third of the company.

An official representative said: "We are providing no official statement on the matter. The management structure of Mercedes F1 stays unaltered, and all three partners are fully committed to the ongoing success of Mercedes-Benz in Formula One."

Valuation Growth

This arrangement signifies a substantial rise in worth of Mercedes F1 after Ineos Group acquired its stake for £208 million in 2022.

The rise reflects the growth in market values of F1 teams in the past few years as a consequence of the increasing appeal of the sport around the world.

This was also seen in the box-office performance of the Formula 1 film starring Brad Pitt, which was released last summer and earned over $630 million (£458m) at the box office.

The film represents Pitt's most successful film and the most successful sports movie ever released.

Current Performance

The Mercedes team are runner-up in the team standings, behind McLaren, with three Grands Prix left this season.

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

Mercedes won a record eight straight team titles and seven drivers' titles, six for Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, between 2014 and 2021.