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Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is in advanced talks to offload a portion of his ownership stake in the Mercedes F1 outfit.

The deal values Mercedes at £4.6 billion – an unprecedented figure for an F1 team – after the McLaren team was appraised at £3.5bn in a change of corporate structure in September.

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

Wolff, aged 53 would stay on as team boss and chief executive officer should the deal proceed.

Ownership Structure

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

A Mercedes spokesperson stated: "We will be making no comment on this. The governance of the team will remain unaltered, and all three partners are dedicated to continued achievements of Mercedes-Benz in Formula One."

Valuation Growth

The deal signifies a significant increase in worth of Mercedes F1 since Ineos acquired its stake for £208 million in 2022.

This surge reflects the expansion in valuations of F1 teams in the past few years due to the growing popularity of Formula 1 around the world.

This trend was evident with the success of the F1 movie featuring Brad Pitt, which debuted last summer and earned more than $630 million (£458 million) at cinemas worldwide.

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 constructors' championship, trailing McLaren, with three Grands Prix left this season.

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

Mercedes won a unprecedented eight consecutive constructors' championships and seven driver championships, six for Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, from 2014 to 2021.