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Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is in advanced talks to sell part of his shareholding in the Mercedes F1 outfit.

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

The Austrian executive, who holds one-third of Mercedes F1, plans to divest a shareholding in the region of 5%.

Wolff, aged 53 will remain as team boss and chief executive officer if the sale goes through.

Shareholder Breakdown

The other shareholders in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes-Benz and industrial group Ineos Group, who each also own one-third of the company.

A Mercedes spokesperson stated: "We are providing no comment on the matter. The governance of the team will remain unaltered, and all three partners are fully committed to continued achievements of the brand in F1."

Financial Growth

This arrangement would represent a significant increase in value of the Mercedes team since Ineos bought its stake for £208m in 2022.

This surge demonstrates the expansion in market values of F1 teams in the past few years due to the increasing appeal of Formula 1 globally.

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

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

Current Performance

The Mercedes team are runner-up in the team standings, trailing McLaren, with three races left this season.

Their lead driver British driver George Russell has secured victory in two of the 21 races this year and is fourth in the individual standings after McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.

Mercedes won a record eight straight team titles and seven driver championships, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, from 2014 to 2021.