Mercedes‘ Formula 1 team has been valued at a staggering $6bn (£4.6bn) after boss Toto Wolff sold a 5% share to CrowdStrike software tycoon George Kurtz, who becomes the fourth owner of the multiple world championship-winning outfit.

The $300m (£230m) sale highlights the dizzying rise in F1 team valuations in the space of just a few months.

In 2023, an investment in Alpine valued the team at around £700m and last year McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown spoke of most teams being worth “well north” of £1bn. The Mercedes announcement — albeit from one of F1’s most profitable constructors — now redefines the landscape.

Mercedes’ F1 team ownership

• Mercedes (33.33%)
• INEOS (33.33%)
• Toto Wolff (28.33%)
• George Kurtz (5%)

The identity of Mercedes’ four owners helps illustrate why team values have soared to stratospheric levels since 2010 when Mercedes first bought into the Brawn GP team, eventually buying it outright for a combined price of around £140m.

In 2013, Mercedes brought Toto Wolff onboard, selling him a 30% stake. He had already spotted the investment potential in F1, by taking a stake in Williams (which was since sold). But the share of the team was also an incentive for Wolff to build the team for long-term success.

Even so, at that point, F1 investment was largely coming from multinational firms with the deep pockets required to fund the endless research into upgrades and new designs required to keep a team at the front of the grid, with little expectation of profit.

A new generation of investors

That situation changed overnight when the budget cap was introduced in 2021, restricting teams’ outlay on the majority of their costs. With spending restricted, many teams could instantly turn a profit on income that would have previously been ploughed back into performance improvements.

At the same time, Mercedes sold a third of the team to chemical firm INEOS for £208m, valuing it at £624m. Wolff increased his stake to 33.33%, making each of the trio equal shareholders in the Formula 1 team.

That situation endured until November 2025 when Kurtz bought 15% of Wolff’s company that holds a 33.33% share of Mercedes’ F1 team. It gives the CrowdStrike CEO a personal 5% share of Mercedes.

Both Kurtz and INEOS appear to have bought into Mercedes for more than just the chance to turn a profit on their investment (although they’ll undoubtedly hope to do so).

INEOS is attempting to become a centre of excellence for high-performance sport by buying up teams such as Manchester United and the multiple Tour de France-winning Team Sky, now known as INEOS Grenadiers. It has stated its intention to pool expertise across its teams to push them to greater success — an ambition that has so far not come to fruition.

Kurtz, who is also an accomplished racer with a Le Mans class win and two overall Spa 24 Hours victories to his name, has also spoken of helping to boost the team’s performance through data analytics, and of increasing its partners in the US.

In the goals of both investors is a insight into the future of Formula 1, which looks destined to be even more digital and data driven.

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

Who owns the Mercedes Formula 1 team?

Toto Wolff
28.33%

Toto Wolff bought a 30% stake in Mercedes’ F1 team when he joined to lead the project in 2013. While the terms of the deal were kept secret, there is little doubt that it has proven a lucrative investment, as the team’s value has soared.

He increased his stake in 2020 when INEOS bought into the team, taking an equal third through a holding company.

Wolff has now sold 15% of this company to George Kurtz — representing 5% of the Mercedes F1 team — leaving him with a 28.33% share.

George Kurtz
5%

Founder and CEO of security software firm CrowdStrike, George Kurtz became a fourth Mercedes F1 investor in November 2025, when he bought a share in Wolff’s holding company, which owns a third of the team.

This 5% personal stake in Mercedes cost $300m (£230m), and also binds the team closer to CrowdStrike, which began sponsoring the Silver Arrows in 2019.

Kurtz has said that he will support the team’s innovation and technology strategy, with a focus on data analytics and performance. He also spoke of increasing the team’s presence in America, and in “global technology sectors” to improve performance and seek further investment from new tech partners.

Kurtz is a keen sports car racer, with class wins at Le Mans and Sebring, as well as two overall victories at the Indianapolis 8 Hours and Spa 24 Hours.

INEOS
33.33%

Chemicals firm INEOS bought a 33.33% stake in Mercedes’ F1 outfit for £208m in December 2020, adding to its collection of sporting teams that include football clubs Manchester United and OGC Nice, the Grenadiers cycling team, and the Britannia America’s Cup sailing squad.

Since then — and in common with most of INEOS’s other sporting teams — Mercedes’ performance has dipped, despite the company’s plan to share technology, data and techniques to “take human performance to the next level”.

INEOS, headed by founder and CEO Jim Ratcliffe, has always said that the investment is a long-term project, and there is a sense of optimism about Mercedes’ F1 prospects in 2026.

Mercedes
33.33%

The Mercedes-Benz Group, then known as Daimler, returned to Formula 1 in 2010 when it joined forces with Abu Dhabi-based Aabar Investments to take a 75.1% share of Brawn GP.

The team was rebranded as Mercedes, and the project to make it into a multiple world-championship-winning juggernaut began.

Mercedes bought out Aabar in 2012, by which time it owned 100% of the team. The total cost of the transactions amounted to around £140m.

The team sold 30% to Wolff when he joined and reduced its stake to 33.33% when it sold a third of the team to INEOS in 2020.