Esteban Ocon has responded to rumours that he was carrying an injury that required crutches, after images surfaced of the Frenchman holding one during Formula 1 pre-season testing.
Ocon is preparing for a second season with Haas, after helping the American squad rack up an impressive 79 points total.
However, the 29-year-old finished behind rookie team-mate Oliver Bearman in the Drivers’ Championship, after the Brit completed a number of impressive drives.
The new regulations overhaul is entered by Haas amid its increased relationship with Toyota, as well as its continuing engine deal with Ferrari.
And the VF-26 is the car that it, and Ocon, hopes will maintain its strength to fight in the midfield in 2026.
But intrigue around the Frenchman was centred around a photo taken at the behind-closed-doors test in Barcelona last week, in which he was spotted with a crutch.
So much so that Ocon even addressed the photograph, countering amusingly that that would be no way he could drive an F1 car if he was in need of crtuches.
“People were saying I was driving with crutches. That’s awesome. I don’t know if you’ve seen that,” he said, before giving an explanation of why he was photographed with it.
“My dad basically had surgery on his knee and we were looking at the braking points and how the cars were behaving and how the flap was closing on the front [wing] in Turn 10.
“There was a huge story that came out where people were saying that I had the knee surgery, but that I was OK and cleared by the medical team of the [Haas] team to drive.
“How on earth would I be able to drive an F1 car if I was on crutches?
“I feel like that was a little bit of an insult because you can’t drive an F1 car if you’re injured, that’s for sure!”
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