🔗 Share this article

Toto Wolff is engaged in advanced talks to offload part of his shareholding in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.

This transaction estimates the Mercedes team at £4.6 billion – an unprecedented figure for a Formula 1 squad – after 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.

The 53-year-old will remain as team boss and chief executive officer should the deal proceed.

Ownership Breakdown

The other shareholders in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes-Benz and chemicals giant Ineos, who each also own a third of the company.

A Mercedes spokesperson stated: "We will be making no official statement on this. The governance of the team will remain unaltered, and all three partners are fully committed to the ongoing success of Mercedes-Benz in F1."

Financial Increase

The deal would represent a significant increase in worth of the Mercedes team after Ineos Group acquired its stake for £208m in 2022.

This surge demonstrates the growth in market values of F1 teams in the past few years as a consequence of the growing popularity of the sport around the world.

This was also seen in the box-office performance of the F1 movie featuring Brad Pitt, which was released last summer and has grossed more than $630 million (£458m) at the box office.

The film represents Pitt's most successful film and the most successful sports movie ever released.

Present Performance

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

Their lead driver George Russell has won 2 of the 21 races so far and is in fourth place in the drivers' championship behind McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.

Mercedes won a unprecedented eight straight team titles and seven drivers' titles, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, from 2014 and 2021.