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

The deal estimates the Mercedes team at £4.6bn – a record for a Formula 1 squad – following the McLaren team was appraised at £3.5bn in a change of ownership structure last September.

The Austrian executive, who holds one-third of Mercedes F1, plans to divest a stake approximately 5%.

The 53-year-old would stay on as team principal and CEO if the sale goes through.

Shareholder Structure

Remaining partners in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes and industrial group Ineos Group, who each also own one-third of the company.

An official representative said: "We will be making no comment on the matter. The governance of the team will remain unaltered, and each shareholder are dedicated to the ongoing success of Mercedes-Benz in F1."

Financial Increase

This arrangement would represent a significant increase in worth of the Mercedes team since Ineos bought its share for £208 million in 2022.

The rise demonstrates the growth in valuations of F1 teams recently as a consequence of the increasing appeal of Formula 1 globally.

This was also seen in the success of the F1 movie starring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which debuted last summer and earned over $630 million (£458m) at the box office.

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

Present Standings

Mercedes are second in the team standings, behind McLaren Racing, with three Grands Prix remaining in the current championship.

Mercedes' primary racer George Russell has secured victory in 2 of the 21 grands prix this year and is in fourth place in the individual standings behind McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.

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