The fine line between crash risk and double victory: The McLaren drivers are in a different league in Spielberg

It doesn't always take 20 racing cars to create an exciting Formula 1 afternoon. Over the 70 laps of the Austrian Grand Prix, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri demonstrated that two cars can be enough. Certainly, if they're as good as the currently clearly superior McLaren racing car. The Briton and the Australian battled it out from the start in a thrilling duel, with both drivers in acute danger of crashing on multiple occasions.

By the eleventh lap, attacker Piastri had already passed, but Norris was able to counterattack. A short time later, the two almost collided, as they recently did in Canada . This is the huge risk that team boss Andrea Stella is taking by refraining from issuing team orders. The spectators at the Red Bull Ring, which is scheduled to host Formula 1 races until 2041 following the contract extension, certainly thanked the Italian.

Although the combative leading duo were separated by more than six seconds at times due to pit stops and lapping in the second half of the race, Piastri had brought himself back within striking distance by the end. But Norris brought home his third win of the season despite a damaged front wing. "It was incredibly stressful, but it was also a lot of fun," said the Briton, who had already announced after his pole position: "My old self is back." This allowed him to reduce his deficit to championship leader Piastri to 15 points in the overall standings.

McLaren has made another leap forward in technical performance with a change to the front of the car. With the season approaching its halfway point, those responsible at the racing factories find themselves in a dilemma. They must decide whether to continue investing their technical resources in the current World Championship or to focus more on the upcoming season with its significantly revised racing car regulations . Spielberg was considered by many of the racing teams to be their last chance for a fundamental technical offensive.

In addition to McLaren, the struggling Scuderia Ferrari also appears to have succeeded. The red racing cars had their underbody, the largest and most crucial part for aerodynamics, completely overhauled. A new rear suspension is also expected soon. Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton reaped the first rewards with their third and fourth places in Styria. "Definitely a step forward," said Monegasque Leclerc, praising the efforts.

This could bring more calm to Maranello, where, after recent mixed races and Ferrari's disappointing performance, personnel consequences were once again looming in Italy. Record world champion Hamilton, who has so far been so unhappy, seems almost ebullient about the technological advancements: "This is a huge step forward for all of us." The Briton had expected a small improvement from the change, but now sees such a significant impact on the car's performance that Ferrari could once again become the second-strongest driver in the field.

The Sauber racing team is also showing an astonishing upward trend. At the beginning of June, a modified front wing and, above all, a new underbody, along with adapted sidepods and a modified engine cover, transformed the face of the C 45. The car is now significantly more balanced. The reward: points were scored for the third consecutive time for the Hinwil-based team. For the first time in his career, Brazilian rookie Gabriele Bortoleto scored points, finishing his strong eighth place on the grid.

German Nico Hülkenberg finished ninth, having started the race from last place. Hülkenberg recognizes a general trend toward acceleration thanks to the technical improvements: "You can now feel the cogs meshing together." The mistakes made at the beginning of the season were recognized and corrected.

The fact that Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko had to call the home race a "black day" is primarily due to the fact that the overambitious Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli had already taken out defending champion Max Verstappen and himself from the track after the start. "If nothing extraordinary happens, the title defense is lost," said Marko. Verstappen is already 66 points behind World Championship leader Piastri.

The blame lies not solely with bad luck at Spielberg, but rather with the quality and pace of the technical catch-up that the former top racing team needed from the start of the season. Verstappen's car is too complicated to drive, it was slower from the start, and the improvements brought about by the upgrades aren't big enough compared to the competition. The disillusioned racing driver, who is once again increasingly being linked with an exit from his current contract and a future at Mercedes, must continue to rely on his lone fighter existence within the fragile structure of the struggling Austrian-British racing team: "My mentality isn't changing."