There is no 2 way communication between car and pits so they can't shut down the engine remotely. That is why engineers always remind the drivers to shut down the engine before they get out of a crashed/retired car. Both drivers were told to switch engine modes right before they failed.
Ocon is under contract with Mercedes and Ferrari won't let him drive Ferrari powered cars as long as that is the case. Renault got Ricciardo and Red Bull/Torro Rosso also wanted him to break his Mercedes contract. Plus they would not have put him with Verstappen anyway. Means no seat for him and possibly the end of his F1 career if Bottas performs as Leclerc, Albon and Norris are all performing. Ocon also lacks money. No dad for him that can just buy a team to get a seat.
More or less but he is under contract as merc test driver so more like put his career on hold for a year. He was never going to get a seat over Stroll as money is money and I assume rich dad figured Perez is bringing in money so why pa 50 million for my son to drive when I only need to pay 40 and get money from the other kids sponsors.
Oddly he didn't even do the test driving yesterday for merc, Hamilton did. Alonso did for Mclaren as well.
Ocon is gambling on Bottas not performing so he can get that seat next year. Check out the clips of him in Australia and you can see he was not happy at all. He could have had a seat at McLaren but they wanted a 2+ year contract and he only wanted to commit to one again because he wants that Mercedes seat. It is a huge gamble as I don't see many seats opening up next year that could be his if Bottas gets another year. And very few people make it back when out for 2 years.
Team orders were fine. Mercedes has done it several times and last year Ferrari would have been much closer to a title if they had done it as well earlier in the season. Leclerc would have been 4th if they had pulled him into the pit straight after Vettel. No idea why they left him out. Biggest disappointments so far are Renault and Gasly with Williams being **** the new normal.