'Stories have been fabricated' – Ocon denies Haas rift rumours ahead of Canadian Grand Prix

Esteban Ocon has denied there is any turmoil between himself and Haas after rumours about a rift between the Frenchman and American outfit emerged following the Miami Grand Prix.

Following the race in Florida earlier this month, rumours began circulating that Ocon had fallen out with Haas Team Principal Ayao Komatsu, and that there was a possibility he would split from the team before the end of the season.

Ocon has endured a difficult start to the 2026 campaign, scoring only one point courtesy of P10 in the Japanese Grand Prix, while team mate Ollie Bearman has amassed 17 points across four Grands Prix and two Sprints.

Speaking on Thursday ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix, Ocon clarified that the stories were false and his relationship with Komatsu remained strong.

"The stories have been fabricated with no foundation. There were no real sources in there. 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. There was no dispute in Miami but when I read the article that kicked it all off, they call him Ryo Komatsu, so I as soon as I read that I stopped reading."

Despite stating the stories are untrue, Ocon admitted that the speculation had negatively impacted him and those around him in the lead up to the latest round of the championship.

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

He added: "I've never faced that in F1 before. The important thing is the job we are doing inside the team and as long as Ayao is happy with that, and seeing that I'm putting the work in, and that we will deliver the result when they come, that's the most important."

Unlike the majority of the field in Miami, Haas elected not to bring any major upgrades and instead will introduce a new package this weekend.

Bearman will run the new parts all weekend, while Ocon is set to have them put on his car after the Sprint and ahead of Qualifying in order to compare performance between the old and new specification.

"I'm looking forward to seeing what this is going to bring us and hopefully it's going to help us to get back into the top 10," added Ocon, "because Miami was a little bit difficult for us."