Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is engaged in advanced talks to offload part of his ownership stake in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
The deal values Mercedes at £4.6bn – a record for an F1 team – after McLaren was appraised at £3.5 billion in a change of ownership structure in September.
The Austrian executive, who holds one-third of Mercedes F1, would sell a shareholding in the region of 5%.
Wolff, aged 53 will remain as team principal and chief executive officer should the deal proceed.
Shareholder Structure
The other shareholders in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes-Benz and industrial group Ineos, who both hold a third of the company.
A Mercedes spokesperson stated: "We will be making no official statement on this. The management structure of Mercedes F1 stays unaltered, and all three partners are dedicated to continued achievements of Mercedes-Benz in F1."
Financial Increase
This arrangement would represent a substantial rise in value of the Mercedes team after Ineos acquired its share for £208 million in 2022.
This surge reflects the expansion in valuations of F1 teams recently as a consequence of the growing popularity of the sport globally.
This trend was evident with the box-office performance of the Formula 1 film starring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which debuted last summer and earned more than $630 million (£458m) at the box office.
The film represents Pitt's most successful movie and the highest-earning sports movie to date.
Current Performance
The Mercedes team are runner-up in the team standings, behind McLaren Racing, with three Grands Prix left in the current championship.
Mercedes' primary racer British driver George Russell has secured victory in two of the 21 grands prix so far and is in fourth place in the individual standings behind McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes secured a unprecedented eight straight team titles and seven drivers' titles, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, between 2014 to 2021.
