Esteban Ocon Denies Physical Clash After Haas Drop Him for Mexico GP With Seven Points Scored

Esteban Ocon has publicly rejected claims that a confrontation with Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu turned physical, after the team abruptly removed him from the Mexico City Grand Prix weekend. The statement, issued on Saturday, is the only account of events so far from anyone involved, and it leaves several questions open.

What led to the Haas dropping?

The trouble appears to have started in second practice on Friday. Race engineer Laura Mueller told the Frenchman that the plan to run soft tyres had changed and he would use the mediums instead. Ocon’s response was caught on team radio: “No, no. I want to do soft… don’t do that to me, come on.”

On Saturday morning Haas announced that Ryo Hirakawa would take his car for the rest of the weekend. No reason was given. The team confirmed only that Ocon was not ill. Team principal Komatsu told Sky Sports F1 he could not say much, adding that the team was focused on getting Hirakawa in the best shape for qualifying.

The report Ocon is pushing back against

The physical-confrontation claim traces back to France’s L’Equipe. According to the BBC’s summary of its report, a meeting between Komatsu and Ocon “ended abruptly, perhaps even physically”. The wording is tentative, and none of the sources reviewed offers evidence of what happened in that meeting.

Ocon’s statement acknowledges that “a difference in viewpoints led to a discussion with the parties involved.” He then drew a firm line: he “categorically” rejected “any reports or allegations suggesting that any form of physical violence was used to resolve any differences of any nature.” He added that he “strongly condemn[s] violence in all its forms” and asked for speculation to be avoided “while the matter is being addressed”, with further updates promised “in due course”.

So there is a gap between what is confirmed and what is rumoured. Both sides agree a discussion took place. A physical element has been reported but denied, and Haas has not publicly addressed it.

A season already winding down for Esteban Ocon

The incident lands on a relationship that was already ending. Haas announced last month that Ocon would leave at the end of the season, with Rafael Camara, the Formula 2 championship leader and a Ferrari driver academy member, taking the seat. Ocon has been at the team since the start of 2025.

His results this year have been modest. Sky Sports notes he has scored seven points, 16 fewer than team-mate Oliver Bearman. The 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix winner, who took that victory with Alpine, currently has no seat for next season.

Whether he will race for Haas again this year is unclear. The team has not commented on its line-up for next weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix, and sources close to Ocon’s management have not said either.

Reaction and the Hirakawa factor

Former world champion Jenson Button, speaking as a Sky Sports F1 pundit, was blunt about the sporting cost. He argued that a driver without a future seat should be driving as hard as possible to prove his worth, and that Ocon “has possibly thrown away the rest of his career in F1” over a tyre disagreement in practice. That is one pundit’s opinion, and it is based on the tyre dispute alone, since the full circumstances are not public.

Hirakawa, meanwhile, got his opportunity at 32. He qualified 19th, which made him the oldest F1 debutant since André Lotterer at Caterham in 2014, according to Sky.

For now, the facts are thin. A radio row over tyres, a post-session discussion that Ocon confirms, a team that will not explain its decision, and a denial of violence that the team has neither backed nor contradicted. Until Haas or Ocon provides the promised update, the reason behind the removal remains unexplained.

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File photo: Esteban Ocon 2017 Malaysia 1.jpg by Morio, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.