Mercedes miles ahead in Austria, where they've struggled in the past.

Valtteri Bottas' win in Austria could have been painful for the team as they feared their car was very close to a shutdown with a gearbox sensor problem, but after the weekend as a whole, the Mercedes emerged menacingly strong. His car is once again comfortably at the front of the field, its shape bearing the hallmarks of one of those relentless Metallica riffs that churns non-stop. Half a second into qualifying their nearest competitor Red Bull had to opt for an alternative tire strategy just to give Max Verstappen a chance in the race. The Mercedes' engine power on the straights was three tenths higher than last year and the chassis is quick and balanced. An incident-packed race only helped to camouflage what is once again the choice of the field by some margin. 

Ferrari flounder

IFerrari was flattered by the drama that helped Charles Leclerc secure second place. It was a potent race from seventh on the grid and his pace, competitive instinct and determination in the final 15 laps once again confirmed just how good he can be. But Ferrari's car is far from a podium. They've admitted to taking the wrong direction with the aero - a flaw they hope to correct with updates in Hungary - but there won't be a magic bullet. They went for more downforce and Leclerc said the car is better in the corners, but with that came drag, coupled with a power deficit. The fifth fastest team in qualifying, Leclerc, was nine tenths off his pole position time last year. Team principal Mattia Binotto admitted to Ferrari they were losing seven-tenths on the power straights, and aerial tweaks aren't going to fill that gap.

F1 on the road to change

As surprising as it may seem, lewis hamilton was drawing abuse and criticism for its public stance in support of Black Lives Matter and diversity in F1 throughout the week in Austria. It seems that some still object to the sport's only black driver having an opinion on racism, insisting on the childish, nonsensical and intellectually bankrupt premise that politics have no place in the sport. Hamilton's recent anti-racist stance has kickstarted F1 to make public statements of its commitments to ending racism and its efforts to improve diversity. There was a lot of debate in Austria about whether drivers would get hurt. Hamilton and 13 others did; six no. Everyone wore anti-racist T-shirts. Hamilton denied media reports that he required drivers to take a knee and stressed that it was a personal choice for them, but they nonetheless all backed up the message, just as F1 dismissed Bernie Ecclestone's recent bad thoughts via race comments. . Sport was just one of them.

One image that perhaps defines the new reality of F1 was that of Lando Norris in tears after his first podium, but still standing out from his team as they prepared for photography. It is guaranteed that they would have lifted it in the air before the pandemic. Norris qualified and had a magnificent race – he put the McLaren fourth on the grid and then produced a superb run to stay in the mix of top midfield competitors. His final laps were exceptional. He aggressively passed Sergio Pérez, no doubt with a smile after he got so mad at not defending himself enough and losing a place against the Mexican on the final lap of the last race last season. Norris's run on the final lap after Hamilton, when he took eight-tenths off the world champion to less than two-tenths – the gap he needed to secure third – was the foot-to-toe commitment the sport is demanding.

Covid clear

With the season hit by the coronavirus, there were no guarantees that racing would start. F1 had to devise a complex and difficult operating system, just finishing a race safely. In Austria, they proved to be right to the point that governments considering giving permission for future races will take note. The closed system of biosphere teams in bubbles and bubbles of personnel within them, the masks, social distancing and a rigorous testing program ensured there were no positive cases in more than 4,000 tests administered on Saturday. Both the FIA and F1 have made what seemed unsustainable three months ago work and work well. Aside from the absence of fans, the weekend was as uneventful as it could have been pre-pandemic.