Wolff Preparing to Divest Shareholding Pricing Mercedes F1 at £4.6 Billion
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is in final negotiations to sell a portion of his shareholding in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
This transaction estimates the Mercedes team at £4.6 billion – an unprecedented figure for a Formula 1 squad – following McLaren were valued at £3.5bn in an adjustment to ownership 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 CEO should the deal proceed.
Shareholder Breakdown
Remaining partners in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes and chemicals giant Ineos, who each also own a third of the company.
A Mercedes spokesperson said: "We are providing no official statement on this. The governance of the team will remain unaltered, and each shareholder are fully committed to continued achievements of the brand in Formula One."
Financial Growth
The deal signifies a substantial rise in worth of Mercedes F1 since Ineos Group acquired its stake for £208m in 2022.
This surge demonstrates the growth in market values of F1 teams in the past few years as a consequence of the increasing appeal of the sport around the world.
This was also seen in the success of the F1 movie featuring Brad Pitt, which was released last summer and earned over $630m (£458 million) at cinemas worldwide.
It is Pitt's most successful film and the most successful sports movie ever released.
Current Standings
The Mercedes team are second in the team standings, trailing McLaren Racing, with three races left in the current championship.
Mercedes' primary racer George Russell has won 2 of the 21 grands prix this year and is in fourth place in the individual standings after McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
The team won a unprecedented eight straight team titles and seven driver championships, six won by Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, between 2014 to 2021.
