McLaren sponsor DP World has replaced its chairman, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, after details emerged of his relationship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The announcement, made by the Government of Dubai Media Office, made no mention of bin Sulayem, who is the brother of FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem. However it confirmed the appointment of two individuals to the roles bin Sulayem previously held: Essa Kazim as chairman of the board of directors and Yuvraj Narayan, former group deputy CEO and chief financial officer, as group chief executive officer.

Emails indicate Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem maintained a relationship with Epstein for years after the latter’s first imprisonment for procuring a child for prostitution in 2008. Epstein was arrested again in 2019 for the sex trafficking of minors and died in prison that year. His death was ruled a suicide.

Although bin Sulayem’s name was originally redacted in files released by the United States Department of Justice, his presence in the files was revealed by Kentucky Republican Representative Thomas Massie earlier this week.

Lando Norris, McLaren, Bahrain International Circuit, 2026 pre-season test
DP World have sponsored McLaren since 2023

Massie said Bin Sulayem was the recipient of an email from Epstein in 2009 which read: “Where are you? are you ok, I loved the torture video”. No further details of the nature of the content were revealed. Other emails indicated the pair swapped details of escort and massage services.

Financial groups including British International Investment, the UK’s development finance institution, paused their work with DP World in response to the revelations. BII said it was “shocked by the allegations emerging in the Epstein files regarding Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem.”

DP World has deleted multiple pages referring to Bin Sulayem from its website. The logistics giant became a McLaren sponsor in 2023, having previously sponsored Renault.

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