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Toto Wolff is engaged in advanced talks to offload a portion of his shareholding in the Mercedes F1 outfit.

The deal values Mercedes at £4.6bn – an unprecedented figure for an F1 team – after McLaren were valued at £3.5 billion in an adjustment to ownership structure last September.

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

Wolff, aged 53 would stay on as team principal and chief executive officer if the sale goes through.

Ownership Structure

Remaining partners in the team are Mercedes and industrial group Ineos Group, who both hold one-third of the enterprise.

A Mercedes spokesperson stated: "We will be making no official statement on this. The governance of the team stays unchanged, and all three partners are fully committed to the ongoing success of the brand in F1."

Financial Increase

This arrangement signifies a substantial rise in value of the Mercedes team after Ineos Group acquired its stake for £208m in 2022.

This surge reflects the expansion in market values of Formula 1 outfits in the past few years 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 Brad Pitt, which was released in summer 2023 and has grossed over $630m (£458m) at cinemas worldwide.

It is Pitt's most successful film and the most successful sports movie to date.

Current Performance

Mercedes are second in the team standings, trailing McLaren Racing, with three races remaining in the current championship.

Mercedes' primary racer British driver George Russell has won 2 of the 21 races so far and is fourth in the individual standings after McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.

Mercedes won a unprecedented eight consecutive team titles and seven driver championships, six for Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, between 2014 to 2021.