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Toto Wolff is in final negotiations to offload a portion of his shareholding in the Mercedes F1 outfit.

This transaction values the Mercedes team at £4.6bn – an unprecedented figure for an F1 team – following the McLaren team was appraised at £3.5 billion in a change of ownership structure last September.

The Austrian executive, who holds one-third of the Mercedes F1 operation, plans to divest a stake in the region of five percent.

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

Shareholder Structure

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

A Mercedes spokesperson said: "We are providing no official statement on the matter. The governance of Mercedes F1 will remain unchanged, and each shareholder are dedicated to continued achievements of Mercedes-Benz in Formula One."

Valuation Growth

The deal would represent a substantial rise in worth of the Mercedes team after Ineos Group acquired its share for £208m in 2022.

This surge reflects the expansion in valuations of F1 teams in the past few years due to the increasing appeal of Formula 1 globally.

This trend was evident with the box-office performance of the Formula 1 film featuring Brad Pitt, which debuted in summer 2023 and has grossed over $630m (£458m) at the box office.

It is the actor's top-grossing movie and the highest-earning sports movie ever released.

Current Performance

The Mercedes team are second in the team standings, trailing McLaren Racing, with three races left in the current championship.

Their lead driver George Russell has secured victory in 2 of the 21 grands prix so far and is fourth in the individual standings behind McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.

Mercedes won a record eight consecutive constructors' championships and seven driver championships, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, from 2014 and 2021.