Postcards from… Spielberg

For McLaren, Spielberg was the best grand prix of the season. The 12 points earned thanks to Lando Norris's fourth place equalled the team's total in Melbourne, where the Englishman finished sixth while his team mate Oscar Piastri concluded his home race in eighth position. In Austria, however, the Woking-based team made important progress in terms of overall competitiveness: both over a flying lap (Norris was fourth in qualifying for the grand prix then third in the Sprint Shootout) and also over a race distance. Norris's car benefitted from some important aerodynamic updates (there wasn't enough time for Piastri to have them too) and these now seem to be paying off, much to the satisfaction of the team led by Andrea Stella. The icing on the cake was Lando being voted ‘Driver of the Day' by online fans. And maybe some members of the orange army that flocked to the Red Bull Ring might have voted for him too. After all, there's not a huge amount of difference between orange and papaya!

At last, Ferrari managed to string together a good qualifying with a very competitive race. The upgrades introduced over the last three grands prix seem to be working on the SF-23, which has

always been a fast car – as the average qualifying position shows – but has suffered a bit too much in terms of managing tyre degradation. Yet first in Montreal and now in Spielberg there was a significant step forward on this front, culminating in the team's second podium and best result of the season in Austria thanks to Charles Leclerc's P2. There was another ‘podium' on Saturday for

Carlos Sainz – but only a virtual one, as there's no actual podium after the Sprint race.

Leclerc's result ticked off another statistical milestone for the Scuderia: its 800th podium (a total of 242 victories, 285 second places and 273 third places) out of 1061 races.

There are certainly tracks with more history and charm, as well as cities that generate a bigger buzz out of hosting a Formula 1 grand prix than the bucolic villages of Styria. But the Red Bull Ring remains one of the best venues of the year, especially when it comes to the organisation and quality of the infrastructure, as well as facilities for fans and management of incoming and outgoing traffic. There's a lot to learn from how Red Bull approaches the world of Formula 1: the results prove it on-track, but it's not just there that the Austrians win…

Sometimes, you just do what you have to do. When Max Verstappen asked for a pit stop a few laps from the end of the race to stick on some soft tyres and try to get fastest lap, many people – including some on the Red Bull pit wall – must have thought it was an unnecessary risk for just one extra point (which would have remained in the family anyway, as it belonged to Sergio Perez). Yet Max was set on this course of action and carried out the plan, even allowing himself the luxury of weaving on the straight after leaving the pits to warm up the tyres. Never mind the fact that Charles Leclerc was a fraction over two seconds behind him…

As a result, the reigning world champion stamped another seal on his dominance, going top in every session (whether we are talking about free practice, qualifying, sprint races or grands prix). Max bagged a full haul of 34 points in Austria, with the only tiny blip on the radar being when he had to temporarily concede the lead to Leclerc after pitting on lap 24, interrupting a series of 248 consecutive laps in the lead that the Dutchman had started on lap 48 of the Miami Grand Prix. However, even in this exclusive ranking, Max has moved up to third place in the overall standings:  led by Alberto Ascari (305 laps, from the 1952 Belgian to Dutch Grands Prix) ahead of Ayrton Senna (264, from the 1988 British to Italian Grands Prix). From here to Abu Dhabi, Max has every chance to give it another go…

There's not much mystery surrounding the destiny of the world titles after nine grands prix, with Max Verstappen set to make it three in a row and Red Bull ready to double up. But it's much closer behind them, which might be less fascinating for the fans but is just as important for the drivers and especially the teams.

The constructors' classification behind Red Bull is practically split into three. Mercedes, Aston Martin and Ferrari are fighting tooth and nail over every podium point: for now the team from Brackley is ahead but only with a three-point lead over its neighbours from Silverstone, while Maranello is 24 points behind. However, Ferrari has scored more points than its direct rivals in the last two races and seems to be growing in form: a key element to this intense battle, which is reminiscent of the fight for the Champions League, to draw a parallel with football.

To continue the metaphor, Alpine and McLaren in the midfield are squabbling for a place in the Europa League, in fifth and sixth positions with 47 and 29 points respectively. That doesn't reflect the pre-season ambitions of either team, but using a footballing cliché, it is what it is.

Four teams remain – Haas, Alfa Romeo, Williams and AlphaTauri – who, so far, have collected the crumbs off the table: 29 points over nine weekends. In Formula 1 there is no relegation, but there's a big difference in the rewards from seventh to 10th places, so the fight at the back is just as heated.

Haas made a small step forward in Austria which, thanks to Nico Hulkenberg's excellent sixth place in the Sprint race, scored some points for the first time since Miami and allowed the squad to overtake Alfa Romeo for seventh place in the standings. Hulkenberg is also the most successful representative of those bottom four teams in the drivers' rankings, with the German currently in 12th position overall on nine points.