Toto Wolff is engaged in final negotiations to offload part of his shareholding in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
The deal values Mercedes at £4.6 billion – a record for a Formula 1 squad – following the McLaren team was appraised at £3.5 billion in a change of corporate structure in September.
Wolff, who holds a 33% stake of Mercedes F1, plans to divest a stake in the region of 5%.
Wolff, aged 53 would stay on as team boss and chief executive officer if the sale goes through.
Shareholder Structure
The other shareholders in the team are Mercedes and industrial group Ineos, who each also own one-third of the enterprise.
A Mercedes spokesperson said: "We will be making no official statement on this. The governance of the team stays unaltered, and each shareholder are dedicated to continued achievements of the brand in F1."
Valuation Growth
The deal signifies a significant increase in value of the Mercedes team since Ineos Group acquired its share for £208m in 2022.
This surge reflects the growth in valuations of F1 teams recently as a consequence of the increasing appeal of Formula 1 around the world.
This was also seen in the success of the F1 movie featuring Hollywood star Brad Pitt, which was released in summer 2023 and earned over $630 million (£458m) at the box office.
The film represents Pitt's most successful movie and the highest-earning sports movie to date.
Present Performance
The Mercedes team are runner-up 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 grands prix this year and is fourth in the individual standings after McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes won a unprecedented eight consecutive constructors' championships and seven driver championships, six for Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, from 2014 to 2021.
