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Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is in advanced talks to offload a portion of his shareholding in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.

The deal values the Mercedes team at £4.6bn – an unprecedented figure for a Formula 1 squad – after the McLaren team was appraised at £3.5bn in an adjustment to ownership structure in September.

The Austrian executive, who holds one-third of the Mercedes F1 operation, would sell a shareholding approximately 5%.

Wolff, aged 53 will remain as team principal and CEO if the sale goes through.

Shareholder Structure

The other shareholders in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes-Benz and chemicals giant Ineos Group, who both hold a third of the enterprise.

An official representative said: "We are providing no official statement on the matter. The governance of the team stays unaltered, and each shareholder are dedicated 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 share for £208 million in 2022.

This surge reflects the expansion in market values of F1 teams recently as a consequence of the growing popularity of Formula 1 around the world.

This was also seen in the success of the Formula 1 film featuring Brad Pitt, which was released last summer and earned more than $630m (£458m) at the box office.

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

Present Standings

The Mercedes team are second in the team standings, trailing McLaren Racing, with three Grands Prix remaining in the current championship.

Mercedes' primary racer 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's Max Verstappen.

Mercedes secured a unprecedented eight straight team titles and seven driver championships, six for Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, between 2014 to 2021.