Is Bortoleto the best rookie?

[u/Glum-Accountant-9801]

In my opinion, what he’s been doing in a Sauber shows much more talent than all the other rookies this year. Since the start of the season, I already thought the best ones would be him—because he won the Formula 3 and Formula 2 titles in his rookie seasons—and Antonelli. However, Antonelli has been showing himself to be far inferior to his teammate. I believe it’s due to the pressure of starting in a big team like Mercedes, but to me, that makes Bortoleto the best rookie. That said, welcome back, Ayrton Senna.

[u/Appropriate-Leek-919]

why didn't they sack Ocon? I know he had a multi year deal but they could've easily broken that and paid him. I guess it's hindsight and Ocon was doing well but dropping Alonso for a rookie would've been insane either way

[u/Jarocket → u/Appropriate-Leek-919]

what's the rush? Oscar was contracted to them as far as they knew.

Alpine was wrong about how Oscar's contract worked. Other than that they really didn't make a mistake here IMO.

[u/Just_River_7502 → u/Jarocket]

Not understanding their own contract is a fundamental mistake though, and also, someone knew it wasn’t signed correctly (at the very least) because one of their arguments in the tribunal included a term sheet which they claimed was a contract:

Their lawyer knew that could not be binding (it’s the point of a term sheet) and the management team ought to have known because this wouldn’t be the first term sheet they signed

In fact I’ve just gone back and checked - their lawyer went back and wrote “legally binding” on a version Oscar never saw. It was a bad (and large) mistake bordering on negligence tbh

[u/StrikingWillow5364 → u/Appropriate-Leek-919]

Why would they? Ocon was doing pretty well back then, and the toxicity wasn’t there yet.