Esteban Ocon launches foul-mouthed response to “fabricated” Haas F1 exit claims

Esteban Ocon has angrily slammed “fabricated” reports claiming his Formula 1 seat at Haas is under threat, describing the speculation as “complete nonsense”.

Rumours quickly swirled online after reports following the Miami Grand Prix suggested that Ocon could be about to lose his Haas seat, potentially during the current 2026 season, and be replaced by either Jack Doohan or Yuki Tsunoda.

Ahead of this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix, the Frenchman quickly moved to shoot down the reports, branding them as pure “bull***” in a foul-mouthed rant.

“Complete bull*** to be honest, it’s unbelievable,” Ocon said in response to a question from Crash.net.

“I was just talking with Ayao [Komatsu, Haas team principal] just now. The article I saw was calling him Ryo Komatsu, which is quite funny. They were saying that we had a massive dispute in Miami and this is complete nonsense.

“It’s all fabricated and complete bull*** as I said. I came to this team, I’ve known Ayao for so long, I have a great relationship with him and that’s always been the case. There’s nothing like what people have been saying going on, it’s completely not true.

“I’m fully focused on the job I have to do in the team. I’m fully onboard with the team for the whole year. I’ve got a contract with the team. Honestly, it’s crazy how things have escalated. I try not to pay attention too much but when it gets so big, it’s almost like bullying in a way.

“I feel good, I feel relaxed in the team. We are doing a great job in the last couple of races. We’ve been unfortunate at the beginning, but the pace and the condition of the work we are doing, is there. There’s nothing wrong.”

Ocon is out of contract at the end of 2026 so all options are theoretically on the table, but he stressed he is not worried about his future at such an early stage of the campaign.

“At the moment we are only four races in and all these chats, they happen in the summer. They always do,” he said to a follow-up question from Crash.net.

“So at the moment we are focusing on what we have to do and then we will see about the future later. But there is no emergency or dispute, or we don’t talk with Ayao or the team. It’s all been fabricated and it’s unbelievable.”

Ocon insisted Haas is in constant dialogue with him and the two parties remain on the same page.

“We keep talking. All the media team, with Ayao. We are all onboard and in line with where we stand,” he explained.

“That dispute about Miami is pretty crazy. Obviously we had a tough weekend, so we sat down with Ayao but we discussed a lot of different things. How to improve this, how to get better, what was going on with the car in the weekend.

“It was normal conversations. So I don’t know who is fabricating this but I better not see this guy, because he’s going to get a big one.”

As much as he has tried to not pay attention to gossip, Ocon admitted the speculation has affected him.

“Obviously I’m human so it does affect [me] in a way,” he added. “It does affect my family, it does affect the sponsors that are obviously counting on me and supporting me for many races and seasons.

“It’s disappointing that you can make such damage to the reputation of a driver in two or three days while there’s nothing founded. These people just get away with no issues.

“They just fabricate stories, put all the s*** on your back, and it’s all fine for them. It’s quite crazy.”