Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is in final negotiations to sell a portion of his ownership stake in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
The deal estimates Mercedes at £4.6bn – an unprecedented figure for an F1 team – after the McLaren team was appraised at £3.5bn in an adjustment to ownership structure last September.
Wolff, who owns one-third of Mercedes F1, plans to divest a stake approximately five percent.
Wolff, aged 53 will remain as team boss and CEO if the sale goes through.
Ownership Structure
The other shareholders in the team are Mercedes-Benz and industrial group Ineos, who both hold one-third of the company.
A Mercedes spokesperson stated: "We are providing no official statement on this. The governance of the team will remain unaltered, and each shareholder are fully committed to continued achievements of Mercedes-Benz in F1."
Financial Increase
The deal signifies a substantial rise in value of the Mercedes team since Ineos Group acquired its share for £208m in 2022.
This surge reflects the growth in market values of F1 teams recently as a consequence of the growing popularity of the sport globally.
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 $630 million (£458 million) at cinemas worldwide.
It is Pitt's most successful film and the highest-earning sports movie ever released.
Present Standings
The Mercedes team are runner-up in the constructors' championship, trailing McLaren, with three Grands Prix left this season.
Mercedes' primary racer British driver George Russell has secured victory in two of the 21 grands prix so far and is fourth in the drivers' championship behind McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes won a unprecedented eight straight team titles and seven drivers' titles, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, from 2014 to 2021.
