The story first surfaced a few days ago, but the buyer’s identity hadn’t been revealed — until now. According to the Financial Times, the potential investor is someone already firmly within Mercedes’ orbit: George Kurtz, co-founder and CEO of CrowdStrike, one of the Brackley team’s key commercial partners.

The sponsor has featured on the car’s livery and the drivers’ suits since 2019, with CrowdStrike also providing cybersecurity protection for the team’s infrastructure, racetrack operations and factory.

Besides his role at the cybersecurity giant, Kurtz is also a serious racing enthusiast, as his résumé makes clear: he has raced — and won — across multiple categories over the years, including GT World Challenge and IMSA, and has even competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Indianapolis 8 Hour.

“The governance of the team will remain unchanged, and all three partners (Mercedes-Benz, Wolff and Ineos) are fully committed to the ongoing success of Mercedes-Benz in Formula 1,” Mercedes told GPblog.

If the deal goes through, Mercedes would become the highest-valued team in Formula 1 — surpassing even McLaren, which was taken fully under the control of Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat and Abu Dhabi’s CYVN Holdings in a deal last September that valued the team at over £3 billion.

The deal would involve selling 5% of his stake, leaving Wolff with 28% — while still retaining his roles as Mercedes CEO and team principal.