Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is engaged in final negotiations to offload a portion of his shareholding in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
The deal values the Mercedes team at £4.6bn – a record for an F1 team – after McLaren was appraised at £3.5 billion in an adjustment to ownership structure in September.
Wolff, who holds a 33% stake of Mercedes F1, plans to divest a stake approximately five percent.
The 53-year-old 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 chemicals giant Ineos, who both hold a third of the company.
An official representative stated: "We will be making no official statement on this. The governance of the team will remain unchanged, and each shareholder are fully committed to the ongoing success of Mercedes-Benz in F1."
Valuation Growth
This arrangement would represent a substantial rise in value of Mercedes F1 after Ineos acquired its share for £208 million in 2022.
The rise reflects the expansion in market values of Formula 1 outfits recently due to the growing popularity of Formula 1 globally.
This was also seen in the box-office performance of the F1 movie starring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which debuted in summer 2023 and has grossed more than $630 million (£458m) at cinemas worldwide.
It is the actor's top-grossing movie and the highest-earning sports film ever released.
Present Performance
The Mercedes team are second in the team standings, trailing McLaren Racing, with three Grands Prix remaining this season.
Mercedes' primary racer British driver George Russell has won two of the 21 grands prix so far and is in fourth place in the individual standings after McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
The team won a unprecedented eight straight team titles and seven drivers' titles, six for Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, between 2014 to 2021.
