Wolff Preparing to Sell Stake Pricing Mercedes F1 at £4.6 Billion

Toto Wolff is engaged in advanced talks to offload part of his shareholding in the Mercedes F1 outfit.

This transaction values Mercedes at £4.6bn – an unprecedented figure for a Formula 1 squad – following the McLaren team was appraised at £3.5bn in a change of corporate structure last September.

The Austrian executive, who holds one-third of Mercedes F1, plans to divest a shareholding in the region of five percent.

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

Shareholder Breakdown

Remaining partners in the team are Mercedes and industrial group Ineos, who both hold one-third of the enterprise.

An official representative said: "We are providing no official statement on the matter. The management structure of the team stays unchanged, and all three partners are fully committed to the ongoing success of Mercedes-Benz in Formula One."

Financial Increase

This arrangement would represent a substantial rise in value of Mercedes F1 since Ineos acquired its share for £208m in 2022.

The rise demonstrates the expansion in valuations of F1 teams recently due to the growing popularity of Formula 1 around the world.

This was also seen in the success of the F1 movie featuring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which debuted in summer 2023 and has grossed over $630m (£458 million) at the box office.

It is Pitt's most successful movie and the most successful sports movie ever released.

Current Performance

Mercedes are runner-up in the constructors' championship, trailing McLaren, with three races left this season.

Mercedes' primary racer British driver George Russell has secured victory in 2 of the 21 grands prix so far and is in fourth place in the individual standings after McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.

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