Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is engaged in final negotiations to sell part of his ownership stake in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
This transaction estimates Mercedes at £4.6bn – a record for an F1 team – after McLaren was appraised at £3.5 billion in an adjustment to corporate structure in September.
The Austrian executive, who holds a 33% stake of the Mercedes F1 operation, plans to divest a stake in the region of 5%.
Wolff, aged 53 will remain as team principal and CEO if the sale goes through.
Ownership Structure
Remaining partners in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes-Benz and industrial group Ineos Group, who each also own a third of the enterprise.
A Mercedes spokesperson stated: "We will be making no official statement on this. The governance of Mercedes F1 stays unaltered, and each shareholder are dedicated to continued achievements of Mercedes-Benz in Formula One."
Valuation Increase
The deal would represent a substantial rise in worth of the Mercedes team after Ineos Group bought its stake for £208 million in 2022.
The rise demonstrates the expansion in valuations of Formula 1 outfits in the past few years as a consequence of the growing popularity of Formula 1 around the world.
This was also seen in the success of the F1 movie starring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which debuted in summer 2023 and earned over $630 million (£458m) at cinemas worldwide.
It is the actor's top-grossing movie and the highest-earning sports film ever released.
Present Performance
The Mercedes team are runner-up in the team standings, trailing McLaren Racing, with three Grands Prix left this season.
Their lead driver British driver George Russell has won two of the 21 races so far and is in fourth place in the individual standings after McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes secured a record eight straight team titles and seven drivers' titles, six for Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, between 2014 and 2021.
