By Roger Horton, England
Atlas F1 Senior Writer

Driving away from the little town of Spielberg after the Austrian GP, there were indeed many things to reflect on, not least of which was for just how much longer the Grand Prix circus would be making this particular journey.

Driving away from the little town of Spielberg after the Austrian Grand Prix, there were indeed many things to reflect on, not least of which, was for just how much longer the Grand Prix circus would be making this particular journey.

The A1-Ring is a long way from anywhere. The countryside is nice to look at and the locals are especially friendly, but the circuit itself is undemanding on the drivers. If you have a strong engine and your car rides the kerbs well, you are in with a good chance around this tight little track. With all the talk about Russia getting a round of the FIA championship, it seems likely that the A1-Ring could be the round to make way.

Overall it's a pity that the Austrians could not have learnt from their Belgian cousins just how to change a once majestic track like the previous Osterreichring - the site on which A1-Ring now stands - into something worth preserving, as the Belgians achieved with their Spa-Francorchamps revamp. A mini Osterreichring the A1-Ring is not.

The start of the race produced more high farce than high drama, when four cars were left on the grid. It seems strange that almost all the drivers I have spoken to seem to like this new launch control system for starting their races. Some, prior to this event, seemed to be of the opinion that it actually enhances their safety, eliminating the chances of a driver error and therefore reducing the pressure on them during the start. "If it goes wrong we can now blame some engineer" has been a rather common response.

For once, it would appear that some people in F1 have moved too fast in replacing their drivers' input with computer driven technology, and in Austria we were perhaps lucky not to have paid a higher price. If these events are repeated at the next event in Monaco, where the start is on a narrow public road, then Formula One may be made to look extremely silly or worse.

At this race we saw Juan Pablo Montoya outqualify his teammate Ralf Schumacher for the first time this season. Friday was another typical Montoya day. A fast lap followed by an 'off' or a spin. The result was a disappointing eleventh on the time sheets.

On Friday evening, Montoya sat down and had a long talk with his engineer and together they confirmed the need to lift their collective games. The pattern of Montoya's Friday on-track performances was becoming all too predictable and this was flowing on to unimpressive Saturday qualifying positions. He had also endured some mechanical frustrations as well, of course, but there was a growing feeling amongst the senior members of the team that the Colombian's performances were not matching his potential.

So it was Gerhard Berger, BMW motorsports boss, at team owner Frank William's behest, that initiated the talk that could, perhaps, turn around Montoya's season. "It is", said Williams, "easier for an ex driver to talk to another driver this way, than for a team boss or an engineer." Berger was able to underline the importance of using all the team's technical resources to make the car go faster. Raw talent has its place, but prior to Austria Ralf had been out-performing him, and that was not necessarily all down to experience or ability.

The results on Saturday suggested that the lesson might have been learned well, as he was ahead of Ralf on the grid and alongside Michael Schumacher on pole, just 0.124 slower.

The incident between Montoya and Schumacher on the sixteenth lap was one of the main talking points of the race. Despite Schumacher's post race comments, it was hard to see this as anything other than a racing incident. Schumacher, with Rubens Barrichello effectively protecting his back, could afford to pick his moment and make the pass stick. On the other hand, Montoya knew that if he could defend his lead for long enough, the relative grip level of his Michelin tyres would return, so he was in no mood to gift away his first place position.

Overall, Michael Schumacher made two mistakes in Austria. The first was trying to overtake Montoya around the outside. The Colombian was always going to make that impossible, and by being on that side of a sliding car he made himself totally vulnerable if Montoya slid wide, as in fact he did. A driver of Schumacher's very considerable experience should have known this.

The second mistake was then to make the incident the subject of 'a war of words'. As anyone who has been paying attention during Montoya's brief F1 career will have observed, he is not a driver who cares about what anyone else thinks of him, especially rival drivers. Perhaps we are seeing the start of another great racing rivalry between these two superb drivers. Montoya won their first round in Brazil, and perhaps the second here in Austria, because the incident let David Coulthard through and into a position from which he was able to win the race, and Montoya would have retired anyway.

It was no surprise to see Rubens Barrichello slow down on the last lap to allow his teammate into second place. The Ferrari policy of building their team around the German champion is well known and the real surprise to me was the amount of discussion it has evoked. It is up to Ferrari how they run their team and provided Schumacher continues to deliver, who can argue? It will always end this way for any driver who accepts this inferior role, and no other natural race winner will ever partner Michael Schumacher under these conditions.

Once again the normally ultra consistent McLaren team were the surprise of qualifying, with both cars filling out the fourth row after looking so good all through Friday and the Saturday morning sessions. "You never know what can happen," said a rather grim looking David Coulthard after struggling to a seventh place position on the grid. "If we come away with the ten points then qualifying will look like a distant memory, I think it's important to keep things in perspective, its when the chequered flag drops that you come away with the points."

In truth few believed he had much of a chance of a win then, but once again Coulthard made no mistakes, was fast when it mattered, and ended up with a well deserved victory. With six races now gone, no one can afford to write off the Scot's Championship chances. Mika Hakkinen may well be Ron Dennis's favoured one, but Dennis can also add up the Championship points scored by his two drivers and the pressure from Mercedes to defeat their archrival Ferrari, and before the Munich-powered Williams cars take yet another step forward, should not be underestimated.

On arriving at the Austrian Paddock on Thursday afternoon, David Coulthard strode purposely through the throng of journalist and photographers to the sanctuary of the McLaren motor home, looking decidedly like a man on a mission. On Sunday evening he could finally relax, because for this race at least, it was a case of mission accomplished.