Toto Wolff Drops A $300,000,000 F1 FLEX

Toto Wolff is cashing in and Mercedes could be worth MORE without Lewis Hamilton.

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Toto Wolff is reported to be selling part of his stake of Mercedes for just over $300 million which implies a team valuation near $6 billion. Just ahead of the 2026 rules shift and while F1 valuations run hot. Mercedes says governance stays the same, a likely passive buyer which fits the message of no power shuffle…but you never know. Keep an eye on how this capital refresh feeds into Mercedes’ next chapter with Kimi Antonelli rising and George Russell anchoring development.

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Toto Wolff’s $300,000,000 Mercedes Move

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It’s happening everyone. It really is. Mercedes ownership is finally shifting and it’s Christian her who’s buying in. Got you. I was acting. Or was I? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I was. Or was I? Toto Wolf looks ready to cash in. And honestly, fair play. When he bought a third of the team back in 2012, Mercedes was worth about $390 million. And when you put it in perspective, the value of Mercedes F1 team right now is not that crazily far off the entire valuation of Formula 1 itself back in the early 2010s. Liberty Media now estimating it’s worth around 20 billion or so. And his slice of Mercedes has grown faster than the sport that his team currently operates in. Sportico first broke the news, echoed by the Mirror’s Daniel Moxon and confirmed by the BBC’s Andrew Benson. So, it does check out in my regard. the Austrian business tycoon looking to sell up a portion of his stake in the team, not the entire widget. How much? About 5% which is valued around 300 mil. It would mean that the rough valuation of this team is about $6 billion. 6 billion. That is a really huge valuation when you consider that Sportico broke last year and then reported via Blackburn Motorsport that the team was worth just a smidge under four billion. $2 billion gain in less than a year. And then going back to 2012 when the team was worth 390 mil, what Wolfme be selling off now for just a fraction of the entire widget is worth what the team was back then. That’s just time. Time’s weird. So you might be just thinking, well, why sell now? Is retirement creeping in? Is he hedging his bets regarding the regulation change next year? perhaps selling off a bit at the highest before the dice roll next year instead of wholly doubling down and maybe the team doesn’t do so well and they slump. Well, strap yourselves in ladder fans because you’re about to get another dose of maximum yap. I was actually chatting with Mr. Moxon who helped break the news from Sportico and then confirmed by the BBC and we were having a little bit of a pow-wow about it and we then came to the conclusion that the decision to do this right now before 2026 was very much a deliberate act. Perhaps, as my wife would say, making hay while the sun shines in case next year it turns out that only one team dominates and it becomes even more boring than some may have found 2023. Meaning that people don’t care about Formula 1. It’s not as exciting. They go to other motorsporting categories and then the valuation of Formula 1 starts to shrink because of it because it’s just not interesting. It makes sense really. And Toto Wolf deserves to realize some of the paper wealth he’s been able to generate in that time, bringing Mercedes from a midfield team to an absolute juggernaut who’s only a couple of constructors titles away from double figures. Especially when you couple it with the news last week that the celebrity bat stake within Alpine was looking to be sold off not too soon. Auto Capital and Ryan Reynolds standing to make a tidy profit of their own. But that being said, it does certainly raise some questions as to who could be poised in stepping into the breach regarding said sale. Now granted, Mercedes were very quick to act. The communications chief, Bradley Lord, is very good at his job. So here are the comments from Mercedes for your consideration, even though they are actually quite short and on the surface not all that informative. Him, we will be making no comment on this. The governance of the team will remain unchanged and all three partners are fully committed to the ongoing success of MercedesBenz in Formula 1. Yeah, it’s aligning with what Aston Martin said the other day regarding that they did not talk about internal affairs. Of course, teams aren’t going to be talking about internal affairs. They barely like to talk about the length of drivers contracts at this point with multi-year deals and something something and beyond. Well, I mean, except with the likes of Toto, who doesn’t really believe in such thing and likes to make us feel uncomfortable for months and months on end. But this news is very much worth speculating upon because you look to one of their other financial partners and their financial situation with tons of debt and you’re thinking, well, when are they going to have to sell up themselves, but more on that later. That statement from Mercedes, though, may be short on detail, but that is intentional. But it is able to tell you something regarding the purposes of this transaction, that it has no intent of changing Toto’s world order. Well, I mean, at least for the time being, it depends on what happens next year. Either Toto brings Mercedes right back up to the top and they have a sustained period of dominance and then Toto goes, “Ah, well, great. My work here is done.” He ends up completely bungling it. Mercedes fall back into the midfield and Kimmy Antinelli has a howler of a sophomore year after a fairly solid rookie season. And then maybe Mercedes might quietly want to push him out. But whoever goes on on it based on the statement that Mercedes provided, this is meant to be some kind of financial opportunity instead of trying to find someone to help control the entire team. It will not lead to the governance of those three bod changing that it will be Toto Daimler and of course Jim Ratcliffe of Inos saying where the team goes or comes. Yep, that relationship is point. And that way of thinking actually checks out with the last time Toto Wolf personally speculated as to what his lot would be with Mercedes going into the future around 2020. Back when the Austrian was approaching his 50th birthday and maybe after the rigors of the Rooney Rona and the fact that Mercedes were riding a high as well as him harking back to his days as a lover of venture capitalism. In an interview with Motorsport Total, he backed down from that train of thought when he realized that he loved F1 too much that it was his niche as he put it. So, I don’t expect Wol to suddenly change his tune and then quit the sport and have nothing to do with it anymore. You know, especially since the team has actually been able to gain some forward momentum for the first time in a couple of years. He’s been able to turn the team around after really coping hard after the cost cap became a thing and Mercedes couldn’t just buy their way out of a problem after one Grand Prix. And they’ve managed to survive the loss of Lewis Hamilton with Antonyelli coming online at the end of this year with George Russell having the most successful season of his entire career. Yeah, I would say they’re in a pretty good spot right now. And why would he give up the fact that he is the most influential person within the panic right now? The fact I’m able to make a total wolf impersonation and you actually get who I’m talking about actually tells you a lot, doesn’t it? It’s at the point when I sneeze, half the grid catches a cold. And selling a bit of equity might actually increase his leverage rather than reducing it. It’s signaling maybe he’s managing from strength instead of making a panic sale and running for cover. And we all know about the chatter regarding him maybe taking over running Formula 1 entirely. That’s been going on for the last couple of years or so. I still remember the fallout after the disruption from the beginnings of the Vegas Grand Prix. Toto really got angry at that defending Formula 1 and the FIA to the Hilt. And you’re thinking, what’s your angle here, Toto? What are you up to for your long-term prospects within the sport? I can’t imagine that he would assume motorsport entirely, especially for the fact that his son Jack and his wife Suzie are enscconced in their own rights. So, with Mercedes saying that there will be no changes, Toto is still motivated in the sport and Mercedes are actually on a really good role at the moment. They’re looking fairly okay and everyone’s touting them to be the favorites next year. Whoever’s going to be buying this 5% stake in the team, they’ll be just seeking to profit from it. or it might be somebody within a private investor perhaps and the team expecting them to take a little bit of a backseat or to at least understand how Mercedes rolls. So everyone thinking it would be Christian her buying in and how meesting it because how prevalent he’s been in talking to anybody who has a pulse. Yeah, that ain’t going to happen bub because Christian’s made it very clear with his wheelings and dealings at Red Bull. He wants to be a very active investor. In fact, the boss. I can’t imagine Toto and Christian wanting to work together. Even though Wolf has admitted that he does miss that because basically he was my God damn it. Going back to that valuation, it goes to show that even though they lost the might and heft of Lewis, Mercedes are still a very valuable organization. Even Reuters are going with the 6 billion angle, about $4.6 billion based on that sale. To put that in perspective, that’s not that far off some of the most expensive European football clubs, including Manchester United or Real Madrid. Let that sink in. An F1 team that didn’t even exist 15 years ago is now trading blows with football clubs that have lasted for centuries. And by the way, that Reuters piece does go as far as actually stating a particular suitor within their own headline. that being the likes of George Curts, the CEO of Crowdstrike, has actually generated some news pieces of their own. Yeah, it’s not a company that has been hacked and has end up having your data being stolen, but it’s also a company that has had some bad headlines. What with that IT outage of last year? Yeah, they might be able to help stop breaches, but they can’t stop an errant software update, can they? But they are relevant to the discussion since they are an existing partner, and Mr. Curts is an avid lover of motorsport as well as a racing driver himself. He gets what Toto’s trying to do. He’s been there for many years. And it might bring some red back to the car, which was very absent at F175 and what the team dubbed that particular shade of Toto Rosso. They clearly have a sense of humor there. So when you put it that way, if Curts turns out to be the buyer, then this looks like just Toto realizing paper gains and voting rights will not change. So whilst it might spark initial shock waves, the team will probably continue to operate as is for now. But still, the fact that this team is selling up or at least selling up a part of itself is not really much of a surprise given recent headlines. Not just that Alpine thing. Remember back in September that McLaren based on various sales and taking over ownership and whatnot, it was valued around about £3.5 billion. Mercedes, now just a couple of months later, has eclipsed that by over a billion according to this. And we all know Ferrari’s the kingpin on that front. is probably worth even more than Mercedes is right now, even if their team is staring fourth place in the constructors in the face and is facing some kind of identity/existential crisis. But despite that, Formula 1 is quite the wealthy place right now. Even H, the smallest team on the grid by far, is a billiondoll company, or at least worth a billion dollars. Not that far off what Ferrari was worth back in 2016 when H joined Formula 1. So, as far as I’m concerned, Toto doing this makes perfect sense because this is just portfolio management now. He’s approaching his 50s and he wants some kind of retirement nest egg or something like that or maybe wishing to diversify and maybe invest in something else in his pastime. And the spokesperson’s line about governance not changing that is very indicative of Wol’s past experiences regarding business. I reckon that Toto would have orchestrated it in a manner where anyone coming in would have limited or no voting rights attached to them or if they did they would need the other partners to back them up. And we’re all very privy of the discussions and negotiations regarding George and Kimmy’s contract. You cannot catch him napping. You are going to be put through the ringers when it comes to getting a deal with Toto. So, anyone coming in, even if it’s the CrowdStrike CEO, they’re going to have to really do their homework and be prepared for lengthy negotiations or really restrictive ones. And what are they going to get out of it? 5%. That may sound a lot and it’s going to cost a lot. A few hundred mil that CrowdStrike may or may not wish to part with, but it’s also not giving them that much in that they’re not going to have a very big say in how the team rolls. Hey, as far as Wolf is concerned, it’s rational. It’s free money and it’s also a far more gradual process that you’d be wishing to scaling down in a few years or so because if he did the nuclear option and sold off all his stake in one go, sure he would be a guaranteed billionaire at this point, but then everyone would be thinking, “Oh my god, is Mercedes looking to maybe leave Formula 1 abandon ship?” And even if Wolf kept his job as the team principal and CEO of the company, he would have then just become an employee much like Christian her. And we all witnessed what happened with him. That sure he may have liked to have thought that he was in control of the entire racing team, but he was still somebody who was employed by Red Bull House and Saltsburg. They could fire him if he was not performing to expectations. And after Matachits’s passing, they very much wanted to have control. And Wolf’s framework is what Hner has been idolizing for so long. So I doubt that Wolf would want to remain vulnerable in that regard. Now him still owning over a quarter of the team if the sale goes through. He’ll still have a might of he as well as security. So yeah, Toto acting this rationally and carefully, this just tracks with Mercedes entirely. They are known for being the world’s best sandbaggers. But nevertheless, we all want to know who’s actually going to be buying in because it does matter how the team wishes to handle itself going in through 2030. Having an industrial or strategic partner or maybe a tech sponsor with brand adjacency having worked with them for so long and a CEO who knows about racing that could be the perfect partner because don’t forget Toto himself dabbled in racing ironically with Red Bull sponsorship. So yeah, the crowd strike thing, it doesn’t surprise me that Reuters is deciding to run with it because, well, it’s somebody who knows how Mercedes operates and it’s a fairly safe bet and it also provides Mercedes a little bit of capital and Toto a nice little pay packet. And based on previous sales, if it was somebody like an original manufacturer buying into the team or some kind of sovereign fund, they very much proven time and time again that they want to exert their control publicly and have a lot of representation of the boardroom. or you’d have someone like her coming in and disrupting everything that you stand for. So whilst the country buying in is possible, it is very unlikely because a state capital buyer wants to be seen involved in the team. They are not shrinking violence there. They want profit. Aramco, Mumalakat, the country of Qatar with Audi, they’re loud and proud. The Middle East is loud and proud within Formula 1. Look at what’s going to become the next Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. It’s a Mario Kart track in reality. It’s ostentatious. It’s showy. It’s bright and colorful. It’s distracting. If Mercedes are going to be sticking to their guns and saying they want things to remain the same, they are expecting whoever’s buying in to basically just shut up and watch or at least be singing from the same him sheet. So, is anyone from that region likely to sing from that same hymn sheet based on every other thing we’ve seen with Aramco and Montalakat especially? No, I don’t think so. Yeah, I basically got to get the foam out for that. But that being said, there are still plenty of other monies to be coming in from different regions such as Southeast Asia because Thailand wants a Grand Prix. There are quite a few millionaires and billionaires within the region. Remember the Panthetherra venture a couple of years ago. Then of course there’s Hyundai expanding its motorsporting efforts and reputation there. There’s also the entire country of China who might be wanting to buy in. Maybe South Korea wants to give Formula 1 another go now that the sport has matured and they’ve realized what the sport’s like. They came in too early and then by 2013 it fizzled out. And it might explain why Mercedes did a demonstration run there just a couple of months ago with Ali Botas. And let’s not forget Vietnam. There was a lot of interest around the Hanoi Grand Prix, but of course the Rooney Runa happened. But you still wonder what might have been in that regard that maybe the sport would have been even more popular in that region had it taken place. Thailand might have ended up on the calendar even sooner. But let’s get back to the Inosshaped elephant in the room. As you may be aware, that company has been tightening spend across its sports portfolio while trying to handle huge amounts of debt. How much? Around about 11.3 billion. Oh boy. So, naturally, you might be thinking, uh, Jim, you might be wanting to tighten up your wallet there, chum. You know, maybe cut back. It might help explain why we don’t see as much red on that car anymore. In fact, no red on the W16, just a couple of Inos stickers. It was very, very jarring not seeing that. that it was a very last minute affair which Inos pulled out. I really hope that Mercedes would have made that area of the airbox black again. It would have looked even nicer than the W16 does. But despite that though, Wolfe has been saying for many months now that nothing’s going to change. Jim Ratcliffe ain’t selling up and that things will remain the same. Him saying this back at February at the livery reveal that Inos would not be scaling down. So, I doubt that Mr. Ratcliffe is going to be selling off his life anytime soon, it being worth an estimated $2 billion according to the valuation we got from the likes of Reuters. And if they were thinking of selling, then the team statement would have been different. There would have been changes regarding the operation. And if Crowdstrike CEO doesn’t bite, there’s always an increase by Mercedes themselves to consider because if Daimler decided to buy that 5% and then control 38% of the Formula 1 team, it would be seen as a fairly rational and stable venture with the people who had their names on the cars and the three-pointer star. The CEO of Daimler, I hope they get the pronunciation right, Ola Kenius, wants to really exert his own power regarding who drives their car. As in, they didn’t really see much point in having a long-term deal with Lewis Hamilton. They really wanted Max for Stappen when he was actually looking to flirt with other teams, which now Toto regrets that it might have upset and ruffled the feathers of Russell and Antinelli. So yeah, as those news stories broke out, the boardroom broke out as well. So them buying more equity would give them more power, but it all depends whether or not they want to throw hundreds of millions of dollars into something that they already have a lot of control in already. So yeah, the foam is pretty strong with this too. But it was worth considering for a moment. So okay, what does this mean for Toto’s job and his future medium to long term? To me, this isn’t a cause for concern. In fact, as I touched upon earlier, him cashing in probably makes things a lot easier in regards to his exit velocity plan. It means he’ll be more likely in choosing exactly when he wishes to call time on the entire situation. And it could then mean that he is signaling strength to anyone within the Formula 1 paddock that if he wishes to try out greater things and maybe become the owner of Formula 1 management themselves or even bigger become the next president of the FIA then he’s showing that he’s still got it that he’s still very much in control and he will have even deeper pocket. a multi-millionaire bordering on a billionaire. But I think the most likely situation since he is a lover of managing Formula 1 teams is that maybe he will then move off to some kind of non-executive chairman role and then after Kimmy Anteneelli has been settled in, the team has been established in the 2026 regulation cycle, he will then step back a little bit and perhaps maybe want to emulate his own mentor Nikki Lauder just being a presence who walks up and down the paddock representing Mercedes, what they stand for. Okay, he won’t have his own red cap or something. He’ll have his own little quirk. He’s still got so much power and influence within that sport that it would be foolish to just give it up entirely and retreat into the background. He’ll be most likely a stable set of shoulders to pat when everything is going well and to cry on when things aren’t going so well. He’ll be right there as Kimmy Antonelli develops, grows up, and then eventually comes to the end of his own Formula 1 career. And also, even though Christian her was a very controversial figure, he was certainly a very characterful figure. And Toto Wolf is equally as characterful. If he were to leave Formula 1, it would be a massive blow to the sport because he’s so recognizable. But you’re probably wanting to know, L, is this actually a big deal or not? Well, yes, but with a butt at the end of it. It is big because it yet again tells you how wealthy and valuable the sport is right now. $6 billion for Mercedes as a whole based on this valuation. That’s mindboggling and an incentive to maybe other buyers interested or investors that there is money to be made here still. And if you’re too slow, you could miss out. FOMO, folks. Yes, to you or I, these kind of numbers do not matter. And it actually makes you feel a little bit cynical that you’re just thinking, “Oh, yeah, Lewis was right. Cash is king after all.” But at the same time, this does mean that Formula 1’s health is still pretty good right now. that it’s not in any danger of becoming irrelevant or worse not existing anytime soon. It’s all looking like gravy right now that we will have this thought for many years to come barring any extraneous controversies or Liberty Media selling off and then we don’t really like who goes and buys into it. At the same time, it is not a big deal because there’s no obvious drama attached to it. It’s very pedestrian almost. The language is pretty vanilla really. So, the only time that you’ll really have to start to get the foam of doubt regarding Mercedes future is if the language changes upon the official confirmation of somebody buying into the team. You know, when the language changes from being standard vanilla to vanilla with some colorful sprinkles on top. And it wouldn’t surprise me at all in the coming months that we’ll hear more news about people or companies buying into existing Formula 1 teams or maybe buying up F1 teams entirely or a brand new team, a 12th one coming in. I still think it might be Hyundai Christian her and Sir Adut knocking into each other in the paddock again. Oh, that would be so funny. In short, Wolf selling a small slice now looks like smart timing with minimal impact on the actual team. It’s a quiet maneuver which seeks to bolster the team security rather than tear it apart or throw caution toward it, at least for now. It also may mean that the future of Mercedes is not as dependent on who actually owns the team and instead actually relies on what happens on the track in how their drivers operate and how they are managed. How Kimmy Anteneelli handles himself going into his future as well as George Russell being the brains of the operation. Kimmy the heart Toto the guy who brings it all together. It all depends on the racing team rather than the boardroom. That’s how it should be. And what also should be is you going over to this video right here because I am certain you are going to enjoy that one. So I’ll see you over there.