Toto Wolff Preparing to Sell Stake Pricing Mercedes F1 at £4.6bn
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is engaged in final negotiations to offload a portion of his ownership stake in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
The deal estimates Mercedes at £4.6 billion – a record for a Formula 1 squad – after the McLaren team was appraised at £3.5 billion in an adjustment to ownership structure last September.
The Austrian executive, who holds a 33% stake 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 the team are Mercedes and industrial group Ineos, who both hold a third of the enterprise.
A Mercedes spokesperson stated: "We are providing no official statement on this. The management structure of the team will remain unaltered, and all three partners are dedicated to the ongoing success of Mercedes-Benz in F1."
Valuation Increase
This arrangement would represent a significant increase in value of the Mercedes team after Ineos Group acquired its stake for £208m in 2022.
This surge demonstrates the expansion in valuations of F1 teams recently due to the growing popularity of Formula 1 around the world.
This trend was evident with the box-office performance of the Formula 1 film starring Brad Pitt, which debuted in summer 2023 and has grossed more than $630m (£458m) at cinemas worldwide.
It is Pitt's most successful movie and the most successful sports film to date.
Current Standings
The Mercedes team are second in the constructors' championship, behind McLaren Racing, with three Grands Prix remaining in the current championship.
Their lead driver British driver George Russell has won two of the 21 races so far and is fourth in the individual standings after McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
The team secured a record eight consecutive team titles and seven driver championships, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, from 2014 to 2021.
