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Toto Wolff is engaged in final negotiations to offload part of his shareholding in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.

The deal values the Mercedes team at £4.6 billion – a record for an F1 team – after the McLaren team were valued at £3.5bn in a change of ownership structure last September.

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

The 53-year-old 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 Group, who each also own a third of the enterprise.

An official representative said: "We are providing no comment on this. The management structure of the team stays unchanged, and each shareholder are fully committed to continued achievements of the brand in Formula One."

Valuation Increase

This arrangement would represent a significant increase in value of the Mercedes team since Ineos acquired its stake for £208 million in 2022.

This surge demonstrates the growth in valuations of F1 teams in the past few years due to the growing popularity of Formula 1 globally.

This trend was evident with the success of the Formula 1 film featuring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which debuted in summer 2023 and has grossed more than $630 million (£458 million) at cinemas worldwide.

The film represents the actor's top-grossing film and the highest-earning sports film ever released.

Current Performance

The Mercedes team are runner-up in the team standings, trailing McLaren, with three Grands Prix left in the current championship.

Their lead driver George Russell has won 2 of the 21 races so far and is in fourth place in the individual standings after McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.

The team secured a record eight straight team titles and seven drivers' titles, six for Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, from 2014 to 2021.