Toto Wolff Preparing to Sell Shareholding Valuing Mercedes F1 at £4.6bn
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is engaged in advanced talks to offload part of his ownership stake in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
The deal estimates the Mercedes team at £4.6bn – an unprecedented figure for a Formula 1 squad – after McLaren was appraised at £3.5 billion in a change of ownership structure last September.
The Austrian executive, who owns a 33% stake of the Mercedes F1 operation, would sell a shareholding approximately five percent.
The 53-year-old will remain as team boss and chief executive officer if the sale goes through.
Shareholder Structure
The other shareholders in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes-Benz and chemicals giant Ineos Group, who each also own a third of the enterprise.
A Mercedes spokesperson said: "We will be making no comment on the matter. The management structure of the team stays unchanged, and all three partners are fully committed to continued achievements of the brand in F1."
Valuation Growth
This arrangement would represent a significant increase in worth of Mercedes F1 since Ineos Group bought its stake for £208m in 2022.
The rise demonstrates the expansion in market values of F1 teams recently as a consequence of the growing popularity of Formula 1 around the world.
This trend was evident with the box-office performance of the F1 movie featuring Brad Pitt, which was released last summer and earned over $630 million (£458m) at the box office.
The film represents the actor's top-grossing movie and the highest-earning sports film to date.
Present Performance
The Mercedes team are second in the constructors' championship, trailing McLaren, with three Grands Prix remaining in the current championship.
Their lead driver British driver George Russell has secured victory in two of the 21 races this year and is fourth in the drivers' championship after McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
The team secured a unprecedented eight consecutive constructors' championships and seven driver championships, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, between 2014 and 2021.
