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Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is engaged in final negotiations to offload a portion of his ownership stake in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.

This transaction values Mercedes at £4.6bn – a record for an F1 team – following the McLaren team was appraised at £3.5bn in an adjustment to corporate structure last September.

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

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

Ownership Breakdown

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

A Mercedes spokesperson said: "We are providing no official statement on this. The management structure of the team will remain unchanged, and all three partners are dedicated to the ongoing success of Mercedes-Benz in Formula One."

Financial Growth

This arrangement signifies a significant increase in value of Mercedes F1 after Ineos acquired its stake for £208m in 2022.

This surge demonstrates the growth in market values of F1 teams in the past few years due to the growing popularity of Formula 1 globally.

This was also seen in the success of the F1 movie featuring Brad Pitt, which debuted last summer and earned more than $630 million (£458 million) at the box office.

It is Pitt's most successful movie and the most successful sports movie ever released.

Current Standings

Mercedes are runner-up in the team standings, behind McLaren Racing, with three races left in the current championship.

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 after McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.

The team won a record eight consecutive team titles and seven drivers' titles, six for Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, from 2014 and 2021.