Ayao Komatsu blasts ‘bulls**t gossip’ over Esteban Ocon Haas fallout rumours

Ayao Komatsu has labelled stories about himself and Esteban Ocon falling out as “absolute bulls**t” as he expressed his anger about the fabrication.

Unfounded stories had circulated on social media aggregator sites that the Haas F1 team boss had fallen out with his driver, Esteban Ocon, during the Miami Grand Prix weekend.

Ayao Komatsu denies Esteban Ocon fallout rumours at Haas

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The rumours had suggested that Komatsu had taken umbrage with a sluggish start to the season for Ocon, with the duo alleged to have had a falling out during the Miami weekend.

The claims, spread by various social media aggregator sites, appeared to stem from claims made by a Brazilian journalist, who took to social media herself to clarify that her information had been mistranslated and misconstrued, with the speculation even suggesting that Ocon might not finish the season with Haas.

Sources have indicated to PlanetF1.com that there is no truth to the allegations and, on Thursday, Ocon hit out at the story and smiled when saying Komatsu would likely have more to say on the topic.

The Japanese engineer is well-known for his no-nonsense attitude and, when asked about the topic during his own media session on Thursday evening, did not hold back.

“Honestly, I don’t know where that story came from, no idea,” said Komatsu.

“This Brazilian journalist was quoted, but I have no idea. No foundation whatsoever, absolute bulls**t.

“If somebody wants to write that kind of bulls**t, feel free, but f**king hell, is that journalism?

“I have no idea, it’s terrible. What are they trying to achieve? It’s crazy. No foundation whatsoever.”

Asking the journalists directly, “Have any of you heard me saying anything like that? Yes or no?”, Komatsu waited for a response before continuing, “It’s incredible.”

With Ocon having revealed his own concerns after reading the stories and having his own management team touch base with Haas to ensure there were no issues, Komatsu said the pair had managed to laugh about it when they met in Montreal.

“I spoke to him this morning, but, for me, there’s like nothing to defend from our side whatsoever. Part of it says that, apparently, I had like some issue with Esteban in Miami.

“Where’d that come from? I didn’t even have a single argument with Esteban in Miami. It’s just amazing how completely this bulls**t gets smoked up, and then, because nobody checks the source, everybody just writes on top of it. How is that journalism? It’s just f**king bulls**t gossip.”

Asked whether the story had caused distraction heading into the Canadian Grand Prix weekend, he said, [It’s a] complete waste of time.

“Esteban gets worried, his manager gets worried. Esteban knows that we haven’t had any argument in Miami, at least not a specific thing. This morning, we were smiling and talking about it. ‘What the f**k is that about?’

“So I said I’m going to just completely clarify this to everyone, because it’s absolute utter s***te, total bulls**t. It’s just something we don’t need, right?

“And then I think it gets written in Japanese. I haven’t actually read what this Brazilian journalist wrote, so, in Japanese translation, how inaccurate is it? I have no idea.”

With mistranslation appearing to be somewhat of a culprit behind the misinformation circulating, Komatsu pointed to rumours about how Haas could be interested in Red Bull reserve Yuki Tsunoda.

“Like, lots of Japanese sites, they really want to create s**t, like I’d like to take Yuki or something. That’s got zero foundation,” he said.

“So I don’t take any notice. But then some French journalists pick it up. It’s like, f**king hell, if you’re a French journalist, what are you trying to do to your country’s driver by picking up stories like trying to get some traction? Are you trying to put your French driver down? It’s like, what is the purpose? It’s just bulls**t.

“If you write a story, you check your sources, don’t you?”

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With the assembled journalists joking with Komatsu about “sometimes” checking their sources before writing a story, Komatsu revealed the full extent of his frustrations with the falsehoods circulating amongst media not in the paddock.

“When I was a kid, I wanted to be an investigative journalist,” he said.

“So, when I read things like this, it’s like ‘f**king hell, are you not embarrassed about what you’re writing?’

“And then, by writing bulls**t like this with no foundation, you lose credibility completely, right?

“Any media runs that kind of bull**** story loses credibility, in my mind anyway. It’s not even like twisting my words.

“There are zero facts, nothing to do with what I said, because I didn’t say any of that. It’s incredible.”

Earlier on Thursday, Ocon had also labelled the allegations as “bulls**t” and said, “It’s disappointing to see that you can make such damage to a driver’s reputation in two or three days, while you know there’s nothing founded, and these people would just get away with no issues; they just fabricate stories, put all the shit on your back. It’s quite crazy.

“It’s been relayed on all the sh**ty media that are there on socials, and it became so big that obviously you can’t just notice it.”

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