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Toto Wolff is in final negotiations to offload part of his shareholding in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.

This transaction values the Mercedes team at £4.6bn – an unprecedented figure for a Formula 1 squad – after the McLaren team were valued at £3.5bn in an adjustment to ownership structure last September.

The Austrian executive, who holds a 33% stake of the Mercedes F1 operation, would sell a shareholding in the region of five percent.

The 53-year-old will remain as team boss and chief executive officer if the sale goes through.

Shareholder Breakdown

The other shareholders in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes and industrial group Ineos Group, who both hold one-third of the company.

A Mercedes spokesperson said: "We are providing no comment on the matter. The governance of Mercedes F1 will remain unchanged, and all three partners are fully committed to continued achievements of Mercedes-Benz in Formula One."

Valuation Growth

This arrangement would represent a substantial rise in value of the Mercedes team after Ineos bought its stake for £208 million in 2022.

This surge demonstrates the growth in valuations of F1 teams recently as a consequence of the increasing appeal of Formula 1 around the world.

This was also seen in the success of the F1 movie featuring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which debuted in summer 2023 and earned more than $630m (£458m) at the box office.

It is Pitt's most successful film and the highest-earning sports film to date.

Present Performance

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

Their lead driver George Russell has won two of the 21 races this year 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 secured a record eight consecutive team titles and seven driver championships, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, between 2014 and 2021.