Ocon debunks Haas exit, cracking down on “fabricated” rumours

Written By Mia Wallace

Credit: Formula One

Esteban Ocon has finally addressed the viral rumours surrounding his future at Haas, and he didn’t hold back.

After a less-than-fairy tale ending at Alpine a few years ago, Esteban Ocon is seemingly back in the hot seat with his current team in Haas. 

Or is he? During today’s driver media, Ocon finally addressed the fiery rumours. 

The whispers began after Miami earlier this month, when talks of aggression between Ocon and team principal Ayao Komatsu surfaced on social media. These talks led people to believe that Ocon may not be with Haas next year, possibly not even finishing out this season with the American outfit.

After countless articles, edits, and Instagram think pieces, Ocon sat down with the media ahead of this weekend’s race to debunk the rumours. 

"Honestly, it's complete bulls--- to be honest," he said.

"The stories have been fabricated with no foundation; there were no real sources in there.” 

While it is true that the root of the rumour is unknown, it is also true that Ocon’s start to the season has been far from perfect. With only a single point to his name from Japan, Ocon has been outscored by his younger teammate Ollie Bearman, who is only in his second season of Formula One.

Aside from performance alone, it was also speculated that Ocon’s reason for leaving could have stemmed from his relationship with Komatsu, Haas’ team principal. These ideas suggested that the pair had had some sort of confrontation after Miami, which led to tension within the team. 

Ocon quickly shot that idea down, emphasising how his relationship with Komatsu is still largely positive. 

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.” 

While we await Komatsu’s comments on the situation, Ocon did not hold back on how the rumours have affected him, alluding to the fact that negative chatter in F1 can have a large mental and physical toll on the athletes.

"At the end of the day, I'm human, so when it escalates so much and when there is so much going on it affects my sponsors, my family, it affects 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." 

Haas will hope to offset the noise by delivering a strong performance this weekend in Canada. The team, like a few others, will debut a new package, trying to widen the gaps between themselves and other midfield teams.

"I'm looking forward to seeing what this is going to bring us,” Ocon said. “Hopefully it's going to help us to get back into the top 10.”