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Toto Wolff is engaged in final negotiations to sell part of his ownership stake in the Mercedes F1 outfit.

The deal values the Mercedes team at £4.6bn – a record for an F1 team – after the McLaren team was appraised at £3.5bn in an adjustment to corporate structure in September.

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

Wolff, aged 53 will remain as team principal and CEO if the sale goes through.

Ownership Breakdown

Remaining partners in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes-Benz and chemicals giant Ineos Group, who each also own a third of the company.

An official representative said: "We are providing no comment on this. The management structure of Mercedes F1 stays unaltered, and all three partners are fully committed to continued achievements of the brand in F1."

Financial Growth

The deal would represent a significant increase in worth of the Mercedes team since Ineos Group bought its stake for £208m in 2022.

This surge reflects the growth in valuations of Formula 1 outfits in the past few years as a consequence of the growing popularity of Formula 1 around the world.

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

The film represents the actor's top-grossing movie and the most successful sports movie to date.

Current Performance

Mercedes are second in the team standings, trailing McLaren, with three Grands Prix remaining this season.

Mercedes' primary racer George Russell has won two of the 21 races 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.

Mercedes won a record eight straight constructors' championships and seven drivers' titles, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, between 2014 and 2021.