Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is engaged in final negotiations to sell part of his ownership stake in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
The deal values Mercedes at £4.6bn – a record for a Formula 1 squad – after the McLaren team were valued at £3.5bn in a change of corporate structure last September.
Wolff, who owns one-third of Mercedes F1, would sell a shareholding in the region of five percent.
The 53-year-old will remain as team principal and CEO if the sale goes through.
Shareholder Structure
Remaining partners in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes-Benz and industrial group Ineos, who each also own a third of the company.
An official representative stated: "We are providing no comment on the matter. The management structure of Mercedes F1 will remain unchanged, and each shareholder are fully committed to continued achievements of Mercedes-Benz in F1."
Valuation Growth
The deal would represent a significant increase in value of the Mercedes team after Ineos acquired its stake for £208 million in 2022.
This surge demonstrates the growth in valuations of F1 teams recently due to the increasing appeal of the sport around the world.
This trend was evident with the box-office performance of the F1 movie starring Brad Pitt, which debuted last summer and has grossed more than $630m (£458 million) at cinemas worldwide.
It is Pitt's most successful film and the highest-earning sports film ever released.
Current Performance
The Mercedes team are runner-up in the constructors' championship, behind McLaren, with three races left in the current championship.
Their lead driver George Russell has won 2 of the 21 races so far and is fourth in the individual standings behind McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
The team won a unprecedented eight straight constructors' championships and seven driver championships, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, between 2014 to 2021.
