Toto Wolff has sold a portion of his 33% stake in Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 to George Kurtz, the billionaire founder and CEO of CrowdStrike. The transaction, filed quietly through British corporate registries, marks the first material ownership change at the Brackley operation since Wolff and Ineos each acquired their thirds from Daimler in 2022. The sale price and exact percentage transferred were not disclosed, though two people familiar with the structure said Wolff retains majority control of his original tranche.

Kurtz, who took CrowdStrike public in 2019 and saw the cybersecurity firm reach a peak market cap near $90 billion, has no previous motorsport holdings. He sits on the board of Snowflake and maintains close ties to Silicon Valley deal flow, where tech capital has been circling Formula 1's commercial engine since Liberty Media proved the asset's leverage in U.S. media markets. One sponsor-side executive noted that Kurtz's entry coincides with Mercedes' internal discussions around separating the F1 commercial entity from its Brixworth powertrain division ahead of the 2026 regulatory reset, when the team will supply works engines under a cost-cap architecture that incentivizes modular ownership.

The timing carries weight. Mercedes endured its least competitive season since the hybrid era began, finishing fourth in the constructors' championship and watching George Russell and Lewis Hamilton combine for just two wins. Hamilton's departure to Ferrari for 2025 removes the team's most bankable personality, and Mercedes must now rebuild around Russell and teenage signee Andrea Kimi Antonelli while justifying the $15 million salary Antonelli commands without a single F1 start. Kurtz's capital injection—people close to the deal estimate it in the low nine figures—gives Wolff dry powder to reinforce technical leadership or chase a marquee replacement for Hamilton's vacated commercial halo.

Ineos, which holds the remaining 33% through its sporting portfolio, has not participated in the restructuring. Sir Jim Ratcliffe's conglomerate remains focused on its $1.5 billion Manchester United takeover and has shown no appetite to increase its Mercedes exposure, according to a person who has worked on both sides of the ownership table. That leaves Wolff and Kurtz as the active minority operators, while Daimler retains 34% and final say on matters requiring board supermajority.

The move also signals Wolff's broader portfolio shift. He retains operational control as team principal and CEO, but the stake sale allows him to pull liquidity from an asset that has appreciated sharply since Liberty's 2017 acquisition of F1's commercial rights. One family-office allocator sizing European sports investments said Wolff is now positioned to either reinvest in adjacent ventures—his recent conversations with Alpine regarding a technical partnership never materialized but indicated appetite—or simply bank the return ahead of F1's next franchise valuation cycle.

Watch for Kurtz to surface in the Mercedes garage during the 2025 season opener in Australia, and for any announcement around the Brixworth separation before the FIA's June technical submission window. If Wolff is preparing to spin the power unit business into a standalone entity, Kurtz's enterprise software background would make him a logical board voice on data monetization and cloud partnerships. One kit manufacturer working on Mercedes' 2026 chassis said the team is already modeling scenarios where the commercial operation sells naming rights independently of Daimler's corporate branding, a structure that would require new capital and governance.

Kurtz flew into Brackley twice in December. Wolff has not sold a stake since he bought in.