New Haas signing Esteban Ocon says his reputation as a driver who crashes into his team-mates is “bull***t” and that it was created by people jumping on the bandwagon.

Moving to Haas this season, Ocon will race for his fifth team and have a sixth new team-mate in Oliver Bearman. He’s clashed with every one of the last four.

Does Esteban Ocon deserve his team-mate crasher reputation?

Sergio Perez called Ocon “unprofessional” during their time together at Force India/Racing Point, Fernando Alonso accused the Frenchman of “always fighting against one car all year” at Alpine, and Pierre Gasly fumed over Ocon’s “behaviour” after their 2024 Monaco Grand Prix crash.

Daniel Ricciardo, Ocon’s team-mate at Renault in 2020, said of that Monaco clash: “When I saw it happen, I wasn’t surprised.”

Ocon has argued that his reputation is unfair, claiming that some incidents with his team-mates have been exaggerated.

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“I don’t know exactly why,” Ocon told Motorsport.com. “I think things have probably been blown out of proportion at times.

“There’s been some incidents, for sure, and things that I would have liked to have gone differently at times.

“But when I look back, I’ve tried my best to work well with the team and my team-mate and I think every time we’ve achieved the goals together with what the car could have achieved – whether it’s Sergio, Daniel, Fernando or Pierre.

“I’ve worked well with all of them, to be fair. Yes, there have been incidents that I would have liked to have been different, for sure. But over time, it’s been very little.”

“As soon as there’s a headline, people like to jump on it,” he added. “But what can I say?

“I think, from my perspective, we did what we needed to do and took the opportunities when they came. And we worked well together – with Pierre, with Fernando, with Daniel. We also worked well with Checo.

“We ticked the boxes in the end, so that’s the most important thing. And I’m not a guy who’s here to crash into my team-mate. That’s bull***t.”

“It is what people look at. And when everybody is laughing about a topic, people like to follow and jump on the same thing.

“But with time, hopefully things will be forgotten.”

But while Ocon claims there have been few incidents with team-mates, it was pointed out to him that during his two years at Force India/Racing Point there were five clashes with Sergio Perez.

He laughed: “They were five?

“I do remember them all, for sure. I’ve always tried to do my best in the car, I’ve always tried to get the maximum out of everything I had in my hands. It’s never a good thing to have contact with your team-mate and that’s not something I ever want.

“But it happened a couple of times because we were racing very close, and a little bit on our own – because that first year in 2017, we were between sixth and eighth most of the time, and that was us [always] on the same row of the grid.

“I’ve said things in the press that, being young and hungry, I probably wouldn’t have said now. I have full respect for Checo and it [was] really a pleasure to be his team-mate.”

But Perez wasn’t the only team-mate Ocon had run ins with, the Frenchman also earned Fernando Alonso’s ire during their time together at Alpine before Gasly replaced the Spaniard, reigniting their rivalry of yesteryear.

“We had a few battles for sure,” Ocon says of Alonso.

“But out of two years we touched once, I think, and it didn’t have any consequence because we had the race of our lives the next day. We started last [the next day] and I think Fernando finished fifth and I finished [eighth] in Brazil.

“But I admire Fernando a lot. He’s always been one of the drivers that I’ve respected the most for what he’s done and for his driving skills and his ability on the track.

“For me, he’s the driver who thinks the most outside the box. And I talk to him a lot!

Even now, at the [F1 75] launch, we were talking about go-karting because we live and breathe racing and that’s a very common point that we have together.

“It’s been an honor to work with such a champion – and a two-time World Champion.

“With Pierre, it’s a very long story,” he continued. “I think only we can understand where we come from and our relationship.

“But even Pierre himself said that we’ve kept the team together in difficult moments. And luckily we were there to save the ship sometimes.

“It’s been good to have moments like Brazil. Even though we have our history, that moment will always be something that we both remember as super positive.

“From where we come from, I don’t think anyone would have believed that we would be in the same team and on the podium in F1. It’s been great to experience that together.”

But while the high in that relationship was the double podium in the wet in Brazil, the low was the Monaco Grand Prix where Ocon destroyed his and Gasly’s races when he tried divebomb his team-mate and instead crashed into him.

That, it was speculated at the time, was the beginning of the end for Ocon and Alpine with a parting of ways announced ahead of the following race in Canada.

“Even though Monaco happened, it didn’t cost the team anything,” said the Frenchman.

“I raised my hand. I would have liked things to have gone differently, for sure. But we’ve done our best every single time. And I think we got the maximum out of the car throughout these two seasons.”

This season Ocon has a new team-mate in Oliver Bearman, the two forming Haas’ all-new line-up.

Haas team orincipal Ayao Komatsu believes that in Ocon and Bearman he has a good partnership, better than the last time Haas had a complete overhaul with Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin in 2021.

“I don’t think Nikita and Mick is any example to go by,” said Komatsu. “If you have to go back to that combination, basically I’m in trouble!

“Honestly, with Esteban and Ollie, they are two very, very good drivers. They have both got a lot more to prove.

“I think we have got a very good combination and I’m really looking forward to it.”

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