Wolff Set to Sell Stake Pricing Mercedes Formula 1 Team at £4.6 Billion

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

The deal values the Mercedes team at £4.6bn – an unprecedented figure for a Formula 1 squad – following the McLaren team was appraised at £3.5 billion in a change of ownership structure in September.

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

The 53-year-old would stay on as team principal and chief executive officer should the deal proceed.

Shareholder Breakdown

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

A Mercedes spokesperson said: "We are providing no official statement on this. The management structure of Mercedes F1 will remain unaltered, and all three partners are fully committed to continued achievements of the brand in F1."

Valuation Increase

The deal would represent a substantial rise in value of the Mercedes team since Ineos Group bought its share for £208 million in 2022.

The rise reflects the growth in market values of F1 teams recently as a consequence of the increasing appeal of the sport globally.

This was also seen in the box-office performance of the F1 movie featuring Brad Pitt, which was released last summer and has grossed more than $630m (£458 million) at the box office.

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

Current Performance

Mercedes are runner-up in the team standings, behind McLaren, with three races left this season.

Their lead driver British driver George Russell has won two of the 21 races this year and is in fourth place in the individual standings after McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.

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