A difficult start to the Formula 1 season for Esteban Ocon led to speculation following the Miami Grand Prix regarding a disagreement between the driver and Team Principal Ayao Komatsu, with some outlets going as far as to suggest a possibility of the driver leaving the team before the season was over.
On Thursday’s media day at the Canadian Grand Prix, both Ocon and Komatsu blasted those rumors, with the Haas boss calling them “absolute bull****.”
Ocon met the media in Montreal earlier in the day, calling the reports “fabricated with no foundation” before outlining some mistakes in at least one of the stories.
“The stories have been fabricated with no foundation. There were no real sources in there. I’ve joined this team because of Ayao, because I’ve known him for so long,” said Ocon.
“He’s been my first race engineer in F1 and he’s going to set the record straight later in the media. There was no dispute in Miami but when I read the article that kicked it all off, they call him Ryo Komatsu, so I as soon as I read that I stopped reading.”
Ryō Hirakawa is the team’s reserve driver, who also drives for Toyota Racing in the World Endurance Championship.
Ocon admitted that the stories did have an impact on him mentally in the days following the Miami Grand Prix.
“At the end of the day, I’m human, so when it escalates so much and when there is so much going on it effects my sponsors, my family, it effects everyone that is around me,” he said.
”It’s not normal that you can fabricate stories like this and just get away with not having any problems for yourself. You can’t just lie about things.
“I’ve never faced that in F1 before. The important thing is the job we are doing inside the team and as long as Ayao is happy with that, and seeing that I’m putting the work in, and that we will deliver the result when they come, that’s the most important.”
Later in the day Komatsu met with the media, and was more passionate with the pushback.
“I honestly don’t know where the story came from, no idea. No foundation whatsoever, absolute bull****,” began the Haas boss.
“If somebody wants to write that kind of bull****, feel free, but is that journalism? I have no idea. It’s terrible. What are they trying to achieve? It’s crazy. No foundation whatsoever.”
Asked if he had spoken to Ocon about the rumors, Komatsu indicated that the two spoke on Thursday morning, but that there was truly nothing to discuss.
“I spoke to him this morning, but for me there’s nothing to defend from our side whatsoever,” replied Komatsu. “It’s incredible. Part of it is that apparently I had some issue with Esteban in Miami – where’s that come from? I didn’t even have a single argument with Esteban in Miami.”
Komatsu, like Ocon, outlined the impact the stories had on the team.
“Esteban gets worried, his manager gets worried,” described the Haas boss. “Esteban knows that we haven’t had any argument in Miami, at least a specific thing. This morning we were just smiling and talking about what the f***‘s that about.
“So I said I’m going to just completely clarify this to everyone, because it’s absolute utter s***. Total bull****. It’s just something we don’t need.”
Ocon has gotten off to a slow start this season, with just one point to his credit over the first four races of the season. That has the veteran driver 16 points behind teammate Oliver Bearman in the Drivers’ Championship standings.
But the combined 18 points also have Haas sitting sixth in the Constructors’ Championship, ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix.
