Haas Formula 1 boss Ayao Komatsu does not do diplomatic non-answers or suffer fools, so if anyone is likely to rail against “bulls***” speculation, it’s him.
Even by Komatsu’s standards, though, his response to the reporting surrounding Esteban Ocon’s future at the team and a supposed fall-out between the two at the previous F1 race in Miami was something to behold.
The claims, which had spread rapidly through social media in the days before the Canadian Grand Prix, suggested a serious breakdown in the relationship between Komatsu and Ocon, with some reports hinting at a possible mid-season split.
Komatsu’s verdict was unambiguous: “Absolute bulls***. Zero foundation whatsoever.”
He reeled off a sustained, often expletive-laden dismantling of a story he considers not just wrong, but “just f***ing bulls*** gossip”. He even asked: “How is that journalism?”
What made his reaction extraordinary was not merely the language but the disbelief that the story had been written in the first place, and then gained traction.
The basic lineage of this story appears to be that a Brazilian journalist was misquoted and/or mistranslated into Japanese based on comments made in Portuguese questioning Ocon’s long-term future at Haas. Additional details were then added, referring to reports of a falling out in Miami. This was then regurgitated again by French media outlets.
Komatsu suggested that at each stage of that chain, nobody had thought to check whether any of it was true. He also wondered if the Japanese motivation was “they really want to create s***” that he wants to replace Ocon with Yuki Tsunoda and get a Japanese driver back on the grid.
The specific claim that irritated him most was the suggestion of a confrontation with Ocon in Miami.
“I didn’t even have a single argument with Esteban in Miami,” Komatsu said. “It’s just amazing how this bulls*** gets smoked up, and then because nobody checks the source, everybody just rides on top of it.”
Komatsu and Ocon spoke on Thursday morning in Montreal and the conversation was one of bemusement rather than damage control: “We were just smiling and talking about ‘what the f*** that’s about?’ So I said I’m going to just completely clarify this to everyone, because it’s absolute utter s***, total bulls***.”
But while both men presented a unified front, Komatsu was clear that the episode was not without cost. Ocon has been unsettled, his management has been unsettled, and the team was forced to field questions about a crisis that did not exist.
When he asked, “What is the purpose?” it was not rhetorical; Komatsu was genuinely baffled. As a child, he revealed, Komatsu harboured ambitions of becoming an investigative journalist. He understood the appeal and the value.
“So when I read things, it’s like f***king hell. Are you not embarrassed about what you’re writing? And then by writing bulls*** like this with no foundation, you lose credibility completely, right? Any media that runs that kind of bulls*** story loses credibility, in my mind.”
Ocon himself, in his own media session, described the experience in terms that went beyond mere frustration. He called it “almost like bullying in a way”, with his reputation materially damaged “in two or three days” by people who face no accountability for what they have written.
The sensitivity of the situation was further illustrated when Komatsu was asked, with both Ocon and team-mate Ollie Bearman currently onboard but not guaranteed for 2027, would he keep both drivers if he had to decide today?
Komatsu’s expansive candour was replaced with a simpler kind of bluntness: “A question like this is going to create some s*** because people are going to take my word completely out of context. So I’m not going to answer that question.”
Having just lamented the consequences of careless reporting, Komatsu was clearly not prepared to hand anyone fresh ammunition.