Wolff Set to Sell Shareholding Valuing Mercedes F1 at £4.6 Billion
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is in final negotiations to offload a portion of his shareholding in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
This transaction values Mercedes at £4.6bn – an unprecedented figure for an F1 team – after McLaren were valued at £3.5bn in an adjustment to ownership structure in September.
The Austrian executive, who holds one-third of Mercedes F1, would sell a stake approximately five percent.
The 53-year-old would stay on as team boss and chief executive officer should the deal proceed.
Ownership Breakdown
Remaining partners in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes-Benz and industrial group Ineos, who both hold a third of the enterprise.
A Mercedes spokesperson stated: "We will be making no official statement on the matter. The management structure of the team stays unchanged, and each shareholder are fully committed to the ongoing success of the brand in Formula One."
Financial Increase
The deal would represent a substantial rise in worth of the Mercedes team after Ineos bought its stake for £208m in 2022.
This surge reflects the expansion in market values of F1 teams in the past few years due to the increasing appeal of Formula 1 globally.
This was also seen in the box-office performance of the F1 movie featuring Brad Pitt, which was released in summer 2023 and has grossed over $630 million (£458 million) at the box office.
It is Pitt's most successful movie and the highest-earning sports movie to date.
Present Performance
The Mercedes team are runner-up in the team standings, trailing McLaren Racing, with three Grands Prix left this season.
Their lead driver George Russell has secured victory in two of the 21 grands prix this year and is in fourth place in the individual standings after McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
The team secured a record eight consecutive team titles and seven drivers' titles, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, from 2014 to 2021.
