The China Mail - Three talking points from Austrian Grand Prix

A victorious Norris heads to next weekend's British Grand Prix with a spring in his step, after leading team-mate and championship leader Oscar Piastri home in a 1-2 to erase the memory of their collision in Canada.

He knows that with home support he has a chance to boost his title bid by trimming or overhauling Piastri's 15-point lead.

Here, AFP Sport looks at three talking points from Sunday's race at the Red Bull Ring:

Red Bull's 'black day' on home soil

Red Bull's influential advisor Helmut Marko, a key part of four-time world champion Verstappen's inner circle, gave a blunt assessment of the team's performance, calling it a "black day" for Red Bull as their 77-race scoring streak ended.

That proud run had underpinned Verstappen's title-winning seasons and its loss was an embarrassment on the track they own in front of their fans and sponsors -– and a large Dutch contingent making up the 'orange army'.

Marko, 82, believes "the championship is over" for both team and driver after Verstappen was taken out by Mercedes' teenage rookie Kimi Antonelli on the opening lap.

It ended a run of 31 races in the points for Verstappen while team-mate Yuki Tsunoda finished 16th and last.

Liam Lawson of Racing Bulls, demoted back to the junior team after only two races, came sixth.

"McLaren was out of reach," said Marko.

"It's a black day. The gap is almost impossible to make up. If nothing special happens, we have to say the championship is over."

Verstappen is 61 points adrift of Piastri in the title race and knows that following the departures of Adrian Newey and Jonathan Wheatley, he no longer has a car or team performance to consistently compete for victories.

Norris soul searching pays dividends

Norris's win was built on the error-free excellence of his performance and use of all resources needed to resist the pressure of Piastri's attacks in the opening stint of an intriguing contest.

As he said, after taking pole on Saturday, "it's nice to see the real me again" –- an admission his personal soul-searching has, at times, made it difficult for him to drive with freedom.

"It doesn't come easily," he said. "It doesn't come just because I've turned up this weekend and things are better.

"I'm doing a lot more work than I used to do away from the track -- with the team, on the simulator, with my own team, trying to improve everything that I can, both on and off the track.

"I think it's more a positive thing to see a lot of those things paying off immediately, but I still need more and want more."

Norris and Piastri are set to duel for the drivers' crown and the Briton is ready for an emotional Silverstone homecoming.

"Of course, it's a place I want to win more than anywhere else, but it doesn't change anything. It just puts a bit more of a smile on my face every morning when I wake up," he said.

Sauber success shows Audi's intent

Gabriel Bortoleto may not have passed his manager, two-time world champion Fernando Alonso, to snatch seventh place, but by finishing eighth ahead of Sauber team-mate Nico Hulkenberg he gave notice of the future Audi team's intent.

Under the guidance of Wheatley, formerly with Red Bull, the Swiss outfit have improved rapidly this season and have accumulated 26 points, within reach of Aston Martin, Haas and Racing Bulls.

Last year, they were pointless until the penultimate race in Qatar and finished with four.

G.Tsang--ThChM