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

The deal estimates the Mercedes team at £4.6bn – a record for an F1 team – after the McLaren team was appraised at £3.5bn in a change of corporate structure in September.

Wolff, who holds a 33% stake of Mercedes F1, plans to divest a stake approximately five percent.

Wolff, aged 53 will remain as team principal and CEO should the deal proceed.

Shareholder Structure

Remaining partners in the team are Mercedes-Benz and industrial group Ineos, who both hold a third of the company.

A Mercedes spokesperson said: "We will be making no comment on this. The management structure of the team stays unchanged, and all three partners are fully committed to continued achievements of Mercedes-Benz in Formula One."

Valuation Growth

This arrangement signifies a substantial rise in worth of the Mercedes team since Ineos Group acquired its stake for £208 million in 2022.

This surge reflects the growth in valuations of F1 teams in the past few years as a consequence of the increasing appeal of Formula 1 around the world.

This trend was evident with the success of the F1 movie featuring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which debuted last summer and has grossed over $630 million (£458 million) at cinemas worldwide.

It is Pitt's most successful movie and the highest-earning sports film ever released.

Current Performance

The Mercedes team are runner-up in the constructors' championship, behind McLaren, with three Grands Prix remaining in the current championship.

Mercedes' primary racer George Russell has won two of the 21 grands prix so far and is fourth in the individual standings behind McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull'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 and 2021.