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Toto Wolff is in final negotiations to sell a portion of his ownership stake in the Mercedes F1 outfit.

The deal estimates the Mercedes team at £4.6bn – a record for an F1 team – following McLaren were valued at £3.5 billion in an adjustment to ownership structure in September.

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

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

Shareholder Structure

Remaining partners in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes and chemicals giant Ineos, who both hold a third of the company.

A Mercedes spokesperson said: "We will be making no official statement on this. The management structure of Mercedes F1 stays unchanged, and each shareholder are dedicated to continued achievements of Mercedes-Benz in F1."

Valuation Increase

This arrangement signifies a significant increase in worth of the Mercedes team since Ineos bought its share for £208 million in 2022.

The rise demonstrates the expansion in valuations of Formula 1 outfits recently as a consequence of the increasing appeal of Formula 1 globally.

This trend was evident with the box-office performance of the F1 movie starring Brad Pitt, which was released in summer 2023 and has grossed over $630 million (£458m) at cinemas worldwide.

The film represents Pitt's most successful movie and the highest-earning sports movie to date.

Present Standings

The Mercedes team are runner-up in the constructors' championship, trailing McLaren Racing, with three Grands Prix left this season.

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

The team secured a unprecedented eight consecutive constructors' championships and seven drivers' titles, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, from 2014 to 2021.