Toto Wolff is engaged in advanced talks to offload a portion of his shareholding in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
The deal values the Mercedes team at £4.6bn – a record for an F1 team – after the McLaren team were valued at £3.5 billion in a change of corporate structure in September.
The Austrian executive, who holds one-third of Mercedes F1, would sell a shareholding in the region of five percent.
Wolff, aged 53 would stay on as team boss and chief executive officer if the sale goes through.
Shareholder Structure
Remaining partners in the team are Mercedes and industrial group Ineos, who each also own a third of the company.
An official representative said: "We will be making no comment on the matter. The management structure of the team stays unchanged, and all three partners are dedicated to the ongoing success of Mercedes-Benz in F1."
Valuation Growth
The deal signifies a significant increase in worth of the Mercedes team after Ineos Group acquired its stake for £208 million in 2022.
This surge demonstrates the expansion in market values of F1 teams recently as a consequence of the increasing appeal of Formula 1 around the world.
This was also seen in the box-office performance of the Formula 1 film featuring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which was released in summer 2023 and earned more than $630m (£458m) at cinemas worldwide.
It is Pitt's most successful film and the most successful sports film to date.
Current Performance
The Mercedes team are runner-up in the constructors' championship, trailing McLaren Racing, with three races left this season.
Mercedes' primary racer British driver George Russell has won two of the 21 grands prix this year and is fourth in the drivers' championship after McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes secured a record eight consecutive constructors' championships and seven driver championships, six for Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, between 2014 to 2021.
