Toto Wolff Preparing to Sell Stake Pricing Mercedes F1 at £4.6bn

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is engaged in final negotiations to sell a portion of his ownership stake in the Mercedes F1 outfit.

This transaction values the Mercedes team at £4.6bn – a record for an F1 team – after the McLaren team was appraised at £3.5bn in a change of ownership structure last September.

Wolff, who owns a 33% stake of the Mercedes F1 operation, plans to divest a stake in the region of five percent.

The 53-year-old will remain as team principal and CEO should the deal proceed.

Shareholder Structure

The other shareholders in the team are Mercedes-Benz and industrial group Ineos Group, who both hold one-third of the enterprise.

A Mercedes spokesperson said: "We are providing no comment on this. The governance of the team stays unchanged, and all three partners are dedicated to continued achievements of the brand in Formula One."

Valuation Increase

The deal signifies 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 Formula 1 outfits in the past few years due to the growing popularity of the sport around the world.

This trend was evident with the box-office performance of the Formula 1 film starring Brad Pitt, which was released in summer 2023 and earned more than $630m (£458m) at the box office.

It is the actor's top-grossing film and the most successful sports movie ever released.

Present Performance

Mercedes are runner-up in the constructors' championship, behind McLaren, 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 in fourth place in the individual standings behind McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.

The team won a unprecedented eight straight constructors' championships and seven drivers' titles, six for Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, from 2014 and 2021.