Wolff Preparing to Divest Stake Valuing Mercedes Formula 1 Team 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 £4.6 billion – an unprecedented figure for an F1 team – after the McLaren team was appraised at £3.5 billion in a change of ownership structure last September.

Wolff, who owns a 33% stake of Mercedes F1, would sell a stake in the region of five percent.

The 53-year-old will remain as team boss and chief executive officer should the deal proceed.

Shareholder Breakdown

The other shareholders in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes-Benz and industrial group Ineos, who both hold a third of the enterprise.

A Mercedes spokesperson said: "We will be making no official statement on the matter. The management structure of the team stays unaltered, and each shareholder are fully committed to continued achievements of Mercedes-Benz in Formula One."

Valuation Increase

The deal would represent a substantial rise in worth of Mercedes F1 since Ineos acquired its stake for £208m in 2022.

This surge demonstrates the expansion in market values of F1 teams recently due to the growing popularity of the sport globally.

This trend was evident with the box-office performance of the Formula 1 film featuring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which was released in summer 2023 and earned over $630 million (£458 million) at cinemas worldwide.

It is Pitt's most successful movie and the highest-earning sports film ever released.

Current Performance

Mercedes are second in the team standings, behind McLaren Racing, with three races left in the current championship.

Mercedes' primary racer 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.

Mercedes secured a record eight straight team titles and seven driver championships, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, between 2014 and 2021.