Toto Wolff Preparing to Divest Stake Pricing Mercedes F1 at £4.6 Billion
Toto Wolff is in advanced talks to offload part of his ownership stake in the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
The deal estimates Mercedes at £4.6 billion – a record for an F1 team – after the McLaren team were valued at £3.5 billion in an adjustment to corporate structure last September.
The Austrian executive, who owns a 33% stake of the Mercedes F1 operation, plans to divest a stake approximately five percent.
The 53-year-old will remain as team boss and chief executive officer should the deal proceed.
Shareholder Structure
Remaining partners in the team are Mercedes and industrial group Ineos, who each also own a third of the company.
A Mercedes spokesperson stated: "We will be making 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 F1."
Valuation Increase
The deal would represent a significant increase in worth of the Mercedes team since Ineos acquired its share for £208m in 2022.
This surge reflects the expansion in market values of F1 teams in the past few years due to the growing popularity of Formula 1 around the world.
This trend was evident with the box-office performance of the F1 movie featuring Brad Pitt, which debuted in summer 2023 and earned over $630 million (£458 million) at cinemas worldwide.
It is the actor's top-grossing film and the highest-earning sports movie ever released.
Present Performance
Mercedes are second in the team standings, behind McLaren, with three Grands Prix left in the current championship.
Mercedes' primary racer British driver George Russell has won 2 of the 21 grands prix this year and is fourth in the individual standings behind McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes won a unprecedented eight consecutive constructors' championships and seven drivers' titles, six for Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, from 2014 to 2021.
