Prinsipal Tim Haas Ayao Komatsu membantah keras spekulasi media sosial mengenai keretakan hubungan dan potensi pemecatan dini pembalap Esteban Ocon menjelang rangkaian sesi media Grand Prix Kanada pada Kamis, 21 Mei 2026.
Kabar yang beredar di sejumlah media kecil menyebutkan bahwa Komatsu dan Ocon terlibat perselisihan sengit selepas Grand Prix Miami awal Mei lalu, yang memicu rumor pemutusan kontrak di tengah musim. Mantan bos tim Guenther Steiner dalam wawancara terpisah juga menilai posisi Ocon terancam oleh performa rekan setimnya, Oliver Bearman, yang sejauh ini telah mengumpulkan 17 poin dibandingkan Ocon yang baru mengoleksi satu poin.
Ocon menduduki urutan bawah dalam perbandingan kualifikasi internal dengan Bearman lewat selisih rata-rata 0,2 detik, namun ia berkilah bahwa hilangnya potensi poin di Australia dan China murni disebabkan oleh faktor mobil keselamatan.
Respons pertama datang dari pembalap Prancis tersebut saat menemui awak media di Sirkuit Montreal.
"Honestly... complete bullshit, to be honest. It's unbelievable!" cetus Ocon, Pembalap Haas F1 Team.
Ocon menjelaskan bahwa ia bergabung dengan Haas karena faktor kedekatan jangka panjang dengan Komatsu dan menegaskan komitmen penuhnya untuk menyelesaikan sisa musim sesuai kontrak berjalan.
"We were just talking with Ayao just now. The article I saw was calling him 'Ryo Komatsu', which is quite funny. And they were even saying that we had, like, a massive dispute in Miami. This is complete nonsense! Honestly, it's all fabricated and complete bullshit. As I said, I came to this team for the reason that I know Ayao since so long. I've got a great relationship with him. That's always been the case and there's nothing like what people have been saying going on. It's completely not true. I'm fully focused on what I have to do, the job I have to do with the team. I'm fully on board with the team for the whole year. I've got a contract with the team. Ayao will tell you more later - but honestly, it's crazy how things have escalated! Honestly, it's been like- I try not to pay attention too much, but when it gets so big, it's almost like bullying in a way." kata Ocon, Pembalap Haas F1 Team.
Pembalap berusia 29 tahun itu menambahkan bahwa kabar bohong tersebut berdampak negatif bagi ketenangan keluarga serta kepercayaan sponsor yang menyokong kariernya.
"At the end of the day, I try not to pay attention to that too much - but that became so big for no reason, that I had to get a bit involved into it, our team, and we had to have a look and understand where that could have come from. Obviously it's been relayed on all the s***ty medias that are there on socials. And, yeah, it became so big that obviously you can't just not notice it. If you live in a cave, maybe, but you can't. But as soon as we talked to the real people that are involved with the story, it's quite clear that it's complete bullshit. So you are obviously much more fine [relaxed] when the story is very clear inside - because [otherwise] it even gives you the doubt. 'Did we actually have a dispute?!' Obviously, I'm human, so it does affect in a way, it does affect my family, it does affect the sponsors that are obviously counting on me and supporting me, for many races and seasons for some sponsors that I got. And it's disappointing to see, you know, that you can make such damage to a reputation of a driver in two or three days - while there's nothing founded, and these people would just get away with no issues. You know, they just fabricate stories, put all the s**t on your back, and it's all fine for them. It's quite crazy." ujar Ocon, Pembalap Haas F1 Team.
Ocon juga memberikan pembelaan terkait penampilannya di awal musim ini.
"For me, it's very clear, the reasons on why I'm missing a lot of points compared to Ollie in the beginning of the season. The safety cars, is the full-stop reason. I'm not going to say I would have been in front of him in the championship, but at least I would have scored over 10 points easily in China and in Australia. The pace has been good, the work has been good. For a lot of different reasons I didn't score as many points as I should have, but the work that we are doing is decent and as long as this is happening, the results will come and that's the most important thing." tutur Ocon, Pembalap Haas F1 Team.
Dalam sesi konferensi pers terpisah, Ayao Komatsu meluapkan kemarahannya terhadap kualitas jurnalisme yang menyebarkan berita bohong tersebut tanpa melakukan verifikasi sumber.
"I honestly don't know where the story came from, no idea. No foundation whatsoever, absolute bull****. 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." tegas Komatsu, Prinsipal Tim Haas F1.
Komatsu mengaku langsung berkomunikasi dengan Ocon untuk meredakan kekhawatiran sang pembalap beserta pihak manajemennya.
"I spoke to him this morning, but for me there's nothing to defend from our side whatsoever. 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." jelas Komatsu, Prinsipal Tim Haas F1.
Ia menyesalkan dampak psikologis yang ditimbulkan dari laporan tak berdasar tersebut bagi timnya.
"Esteban gets worried, his manager gets worried. 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." tambah Komatsu, Prinsipal Tim Haas F1.
Dilansir dari formula1.com, manajemen Haas memilih mengalihkan fokus penuh pada persiapan teknis jelang FP1 dan kualifikasi di Montreal.
"Whether it's going to translate into substantial performance or not, we have to see. We didn't feel we had a good enough package to bring it to Miami, but that extra week brought us time to develop further. We'll see tomorrow." pungkas Komatsu, Prinsipal Tim Haas F1.
