Toto Wolff is engaged in advanced talks to offload part of his shareholding in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
The deal values the Mercedes team at £4.6 billion – a record for a Formula 1 squad – after the McLaren team were valued at £3.5 billion in an adjustment to ownership structure last September.
The Austrian executive, who holds a 33% stake of the Mercedes F1 operation, plans to divest a stake in the region of 5%.
The 53-year-old will remain as team boss and chief executive officer if the sale goes through.
Ownership Breakdown
The other shareholders in the team are Mercedes and industrial group Ineos Group, who each also own one-third of the company.
A Mercedes spokesperson said: "We are providing no official statement on this. The management structure of Mercedes F1 stays unchanged, and each shareholder are fully committed to the ongoing success of Mercedes-Benz in F1."
Valuation Increase
This arrangement would represent a significant increase in worth of Mercedes F1 since Ineos bought its stake for £208m in 2022.
The rise reflects the expansion in market values of Formula 1 outfits in the past few years due to the increasing appeal of Formula 1 globally.
This trend was evident with the box-office performance of the F1 movie featuring Brad Pitt, which debuted last summer and earned over $630 million (£458 million) at cinemas worldwide.
The film represents the actor's top-grossing film and the most successful sports movie ever released.
Present Performance
The Mercedes team are runner-up in the constructors' championship, behind McLaren Racing, with three Grands Prix left this season.
Their lead driver George Russell has won 2 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's Max Verstappen.
The team secured a record eight straight team titles and seven drivers' titles, six for Lewis Hamilton and one for Nico Rosberg, between 2014 to 2021.
