Wolff Set to Divest Stake Pricing Mercedes F1 at £4.6 Billion

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is engaged in final negotiations to sell a portion of his shareholding in the Mercedes F1 outfit.

This transaction values the Mercedes team at £4.6bn – a record for a Formula 1 squad – following the McLaren team was appraised at £3.5 billion in an adjustment to ownership structure in September.

The Austrian executive, who holds a 33% stake of the Mercedes F1 operation, would sell a shareholding in the region of five percent.

The 53-year-old will remain as team principal and CEO if the sale goes through.

Ownership Structure

Remaining partners in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes-Benz and industrial group Ineos, who each also own a third of the enterprise.

A Mercedes spokesperson stated: "We are providing no comment on this. The management structure of Mercedes F1 will remain unaltered, and each shareholder are fully committed to continued achievements of the brand in Formula One."

Valuation Increase

This arrangement signifies a substantial rise in worth of the Mercedes team since Ineos Group acquired its share for £208 million in 2022.

The rise demonstrates the expansion in market values of Formula 1 outfits recently due to the increasing appeal of Formula 1 globally.

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

It is Pitt's most successful movie and the highest-earning sports movie to date.

Current Standings

Mercedes are second in the team standings, trailing McLaren, with three Grands Prix remaining in the current championship.

Mercedes' primary racer British driver George Russell has won 2 of the 21 races so far and is in fourth place in the individual standings behind McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.

The team won a unprecedented eight consecutive team titles and seven driver championships, six for Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, between 2014 to 2021.