Wolff: Mercedes team $6B valuation ‘the work of many years’

Mercedes is deep in the fight for second in F1’s Constructors’ Championship, but off the track the team is delivering performance of an entirely different magnitude.

On Thursday, team principal and co-owner Toto Wolff confirmed he has sold 15 percent of his stake in the Silver Arrows outfit to American billionaire George Kurtz – an investment that values Mercedes at a staggering $6 billion or £4.6 billion. And Wolff insists that number is grounded in hard reality, not optimism.

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix, Wolff made clear that the valuation reflects the team’s financial strength.

“I think it shows a good development because the teams have become sustainable and profitable,” he told Sky Sports F1.

“It’s not just some valuation that has been taken out of the sky. When you look at our revenues and our cash flows, we are among the five, maybe three most profitable sports teams in the world, and this is where the valuations come from.

“It has been the work of many years and the sport being in a good place.”

The sale – made to Kurtz, the CrowdStrike founder whose company already partners with Mercedes – now stands as the highest valuation ever placed on a Formula 1 team, surpassing McLaren’s recent £3.5 billion mark.

Wolff remains team boss and CEO, retaining significant ownership despite the sale. The move, he noted, reflects the maturation of Formula 1 into a stable, thriving business ecosystem.

A Billionaire Backer with Racing Pedigree

Kurtz isn’t just another billionaire investor. He’s a competitive racer and long-standing Mercedes-AMG ambassador – experience Wolff believes adds unique value.

Kurtz, who also joins the team as a technology advisor, sees F1 on the brink of significant expansion.

"Formula 1 is really at an inflection point where it is a thriving business,” he said.

"If you're making an investment like this, you believe that the sport is going to grow, F1 is going to grow and the team valuations are going to grow, and you're going to be able to contribute to that growth."

• Read also: Crowdstrike CEO Kurtz revealed as buyer of Mercedes stake

Wolff praised the breadth of Kurtz’s expertise.

"George's background is unusual in its breadth: he's a racer, a loyal sporting ambassador for Mercedes-AMG, and an exceptional entrepreneur,” he said.

“He understands both the demands of racing and the realities of building and scaling technology businesses. That combination brings specific insight that is increasingly relevant to the future of Formula 1."

With the sport expanding globally and franchise values rising rapidly, the arrival of a tech-driven billionaire investor at Mercedes signals one thing: Formula 1’s financial trajectory is still pointing upward.

And if Wolff’s assessment holds true, $6 billion may someday seem like just the beginning.

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via X and Facebook