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Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is in final negotiations to offload a portion of his ownership stake in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.

The deal values Mercedes at £4.6 billion – a record for a Formula 1 squad – following the McLaren team were valued at £3.5 billion in an adjustment to ownership structure in September.

Wolff, who holds one-third of the Mercedes F1 operation, plans to divest a stake in the region of 5%.

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

Ownership Breakdown

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

An official representative stated: "We are providing no official statement on the matter. The governance of the team will remain unchanged, and all three partners are dedicated to the ongoing success of Mercedes-Benz in F1."

Financial Increase

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

The rise reflects the growth in valuations of Formula 1 outfits in the past few years as a consequence of the increasing appeal of Formula 1 around the world.

This trend was evident with the box-office performance of the F1 movie featuring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which debuted last summer and earned more than $630m (£458m) at the box office.

It is Pitt's most successful movie and the most successful sports movie ever released.

Current Performance

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

Mercedes' primary racer George Russell has secured victory in two of the 21 races this year and is in fourth place in the drivers' championship behind McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.

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