🔗 Share this article

Toto Wolff is in final negotiations to sell a portion of his shareholding in the Mercedes F1 outfit.

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

Wolff, who owns a 33% stake of the Mercedes F1 operation, plans to divest a stake approximately 5%.

The 53-year-old would stay on as team boss and chief executive officer if the sale goes through.

Shareholder Structure

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

An official representative stated: "We will be making no official statement on this. The management structure of Mercedes F1 stays unchanged, and each shareholder are fully committed to the ongoing success of the brand in Formula One."

Valuation Growth

This arrangement would represent a substantial rise in worth of the Mercedes team since Ineos acquired its share for £208m in 2022.

The rise demonstrates the growth in valuations of F1 teams recently due to the increasing appeal of Formula 1 globally.

This trend was evident with the box-office performance of the F1 movie featuring Brad Pitt, which was released in summer 2023 and has grossed over $630 million (£458m) at cinemas worldwide.

The film represents the actor's top-grossing film and the most successful sports film to date.

Current Performance

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

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

The team secured a unprecedented eight straight constructors' championships and seven drivers' titles, six for Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, from 2014 and 2021.