Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu has trashed reports about his team’s contract negotiations with its drivers.

Asked in Mexico whether there was any truth to claims driver Oliver Bearman was demanding €6 million (£5 million) to drive for the team next year, Komatsu said: “I have no idea where that comes from, honestly.”

Komatsu said fake stories about the team circulated on social media earlier this year. “I’ve experienced this sometimes this season as well,” he said. “Some people say there’s no smoke without fire, but really, some people invent the story.

“You know what happened in Miami, about apparently I had an argument with Esteban Ocon? There’s just absolutely zero truth in that. Even those people claiming that they had some insider information, et cetera, absolute total nonsense.

“This one, again, I don’t know who smoked up this six million euro number. That’s the first time I saw it on Instagram or something that Stuart [Morrison, Haas head of communications] forwarded to me. I was just like, ‘Oh, another great somebody came up with this, a good thing to stir whatever up.’

“I have no comment to make because it’s just not even close to the truth. Why do we engage in such absolute nonsense? What’s the point of it? Those people are clearly not trying to help anything, right?

“It’s amazing these days that people don’t check the source. So, okay, I want to get some more clicks, I want to get some more likes, so they cut-and-paste those stories and keep running with it. Before you know it, there are 20 people running the stories, so they think it’s the truth. It’s absolute nonsense.”

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Haas has already confirmed Rafael Camara as one of their drivers for next season. With Ocon leaving the team, Komatsu is keen to finalise a new deal with Bearman.

“Ollie is showing amazing potential,” he said. “He contributed a lot and he’s contributing a lot to the team’s success. We want to grow together. We want to move up the grid as a team.

“So again, first and foremost, we need a competitive car in 2027. It’s not going to be an easy challenge because, again, in 2026 we made a mistake, so we’re paying the price for 2027 as well.

“But our focus is really to maximise everything under control, really trying to roll out a competitive 2027 car, and then hopefully we’ll have Ollie on board as well and then take it from there.”

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