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

This transaction values the Mercedes team at £4.6bn – a record for an F1 team – following McLaren were valued at £3.5 billion in a change of ownership structure last September.

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

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

Shareholder Breakdown

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

An official representative said: "We will be making no official statement on this. The governance of the team will remain unchanged, and all three partners are fully committed to continued achievements of Mercedes-Benz in Formula One."

Valuation Increase

The deal would represent a significant increase in value of the Mercedes team after Ineos Group bought its share for £208m in 2022.

The rise demonstrates the expansion in market values of F1 teams in the past few years as a consequence of the increasing appeal of the sport globally.

This trend was evident with the success of the Formula 1 film featuring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which was released last summer and earned over $630m (£458m) at cinemas worldwide.

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

Present Performance

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

Their lead driver 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's Max Verstappen.

Mercedes won a record eight straight constructors' championships and seven drivers' titles, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, between 2014 to 2021.