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Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is in advanced talks to offload a portion of his shareholding in the Mercedes F1 outfit.

The deal estimates the Mercedes team at £4.6 billion – a record for a Formula 1 squad – after the McLaren team was appraised at £3.5bn in an adjustment to ownership structure last September.

The Austrian executive, who owns one-third of Mercedes F1, would sell a shareholding in the region of five percent.

Wolff, aged 53 will remain as team principal and chief executive officer if the sale goes through.

Shareholder Structure

Remaining partners in the team are Mercedes-Benz and industrial group Ineos, who each also own a third of the company.

An official representative stated: "We will be making no official statement on this. The governance of the team will remain unaltered, and all three partners are fully committed to the ongoing success of Mercedes-Benz in F1."

Financial Increase

The deal signifies a significant increase in value of Mercedes F1 after Ineos Group bought its share for £208m in 2022.

The rise reflects the growth in valuations of F1 teams in the past few years as a consequence of the increasing appeal of the sport globally.

This was also seen in the box-office performance of the Formula 1 film starring Brad Pitt, which debuted last summer and has grossed more than $630 million (£458 million) at the box office.

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

Current Performance

The Mercedes team are second in the team standings, behind McLaren, with three Grands Prix left in the current championship.

Mercedes' primary racer British driver George Russell has secured victory in two 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.

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