Round eight of the Formula 1 season unfolds this weekend in Austria amid the picturesque Styrian hills.

Following the Barcelona event, Mercedes suffered their first grand prix defeat of the campaign as Lewis Hamilton claimed victory.

The Briton's opening grand prix success with Ferrari, alongside Kimi Antonelli's late retirement, reduced the drivers' championship lead to 41 points.

Ahead of Sunday's Spielberg contest, BBC F1 correspondent Andrew Benson tackles your recent queries.

A retrospective podium for Pierre Gasly. Justice? Or a can of worms best left unopened? - Clive

Formula 1 finds itself in a tricky position over the pit-lane speeding sanctions from the Monaco Grand Prix.

The reality is that five cars received penalties for exceeding the limit when none actually had.

The pit lane length had been incorrectly measured - it was possible to cover a shorter distance than officials first calculated, by 77 metres.

Since the pit-lane speed limit is enforced by timing loops over a set distance, this resulted in incorrect penalties for the drivers.

The situation triggered a chain of events that significantly altered the race outcome.

George Russell faced the greatest impact, with a third-place finish converted to 12th and 15 points forfeited.

McLaren's Oscar Piastri and Red Bull's Isack Hadjar also saw their results adjusted.

Does it represent justice that Gasly regains a third-place finish lost due to Alpine declining to serve the penalty during the race, while other drivers' outcomes stay unchanged?

Should the stewards handling Alpine's right of review during the Barcelona weekend have stopped there without exploring the clear follow-on questions?

From a natural justice perspective, the answer to both is clearly no - several matters from this scenario remain unresolved.

McLaren and Red Bull have referred the matter to the FIA court of appeal, with no hearing date confirmed yet.

Mercedes have dropped their bid to review the result after determining no practical way existed to restore Russell's potential position, and prolonging the matter would benefit no one.

As McLaren noted in their appeal notice statement: "We believe this case raises important questions concerning sporting fairness, regulatory consistency and the integrity of competition."

The regret is that this could have been prevented if the FIA and F1 had responded differently before the race.

Teams had alerted the FIA to a potential issue with the pit-lane speed limit during the Monaco weekend.

Officials investigated but initially deemed the concerns unfounded, which proved mistaken. Proper resolution at the time would have avoided the entire episode.

Regarding sporting fairness, the matter warrants a complete and thorough resolution.

Will Ferrari make Carlo Santi Lewis Hamilton's permanent full-time race engineer, or is his role still considered temporary? - Anthony

The partnership between Lewis Hamilton and new race engineer Carlo Santi has begun positively.

Santi was initially positioned as a temporary measure until Hamilton gained a permanent engineer, yet a Ferrari spokesperson confirms: "Carlo and Lewis are working pretty well together and there's no plan to replace him."

Hamilton has established a more effective working dynamic with Santi than with Riccardo Adami last season, and he has conveyed this without undue criticism of his prior situation.

In Canada, where he achieved his strongest Ferrari result to date with second place, Hamilton described Santi as "absolutely awesome and I'm really loving working with him".

In Monaco he drew further parallels between the Santi relationship and his long-standing Mercedes collaboration with Peter 'Bono' Bonnington.

"Driver-engineer working together is very, very important," Hamilton said. "Last year, Adami and I had a really good relationship. He's a lovely guy. We worked relatively well together.

"Catering to a driver's needs takes time to learn.

"When you're giving an engineer feedback, their understanding of through-corner balance, their understanding of all the elements that contribute to the struggles that you're struggling with, you try to describe what it is, the problem you have, corner by corner, entry, mid and exit where you dissect it into five sections if you want.

"Having that driver-engineer collab, it's hit and miss sometimes. With me and Bono, we hit it off from the beginning. He had a good working relationship with Michael (Schumacher). I do feel like Carlo is like my Italian Bono.

"He's a bit of an OG. He's an older guy that's been around the block and he's very calm. You can hear him on the radio. That's the detail that we're able to go into together. Our understanding of the engineer side, it's something that's very cool."

There was very little "yo-yo" racing in Barcelona. What were the main reasons for this? - Paul

'Yo-yo racing' represents a recent development in on-track duels observed at certain events since the 2026 regulations began.

The phrase describes contests where two cars exchange positions multiple times over several laps before the quicker car pulls clear.

Two connected elements drive this racing style.

They involve the new 'overtake' mode and the operational characteristics of the 2026 power units, which nearly fully deplete and recharge batteries multiple times per lap.

Overtake mode replaces the prior DRS system this season. It permits a driver within one second of the car ahead to access and use an additional 0.5MJ of electrical energy each lap.

This facilitates closer following and passing. Yet the mode then transfers to the recently overtaken car if it remains within one second, granting it an energy benefit.

Additionally, specific track designs encourage tactical battery deployment.

Yo-yo racing appears most often on circuits featuring two straights divided by a slow corner.

Consider Suzuka, with the climb from Spoon Curve through 130R leading to a chicane and another extended straight to Turn One.

Or China, where the lengthy back straight precedes a hairpin, a brief acceleration to the final turn, and the pit straight.

Under these conditions, the battery lacks sufficient capacity for full charges on both straights, and recovery in a single braking zone proves inadequate for complete recharge.

Thus, if one driver deploys battery to defend or attack on the initial straight while the other does not, the first will lack charge on the second and be overtaken, and the reverse applies.

Barcelona features only one long straight, the pit straight. Therefore the same effect does not arise. Consequently, no yo-yo racing occurs.

Among the newer drivers the focus has understandably been on Kimi Antonelli but how do you rate the other drivers in their first or second season? In particular, Arvid Lindblad who arrived with high expectations? - John

Arvid Lindblad is experiencing a strong opening campaign in Formula 1 with Racing Bulls.

After seven races, the qualifying head-to-head between the Briton and team-mate Liam Lawson remains tight.

Lawson leads 5-3 in direct comparisons, yet the average margin stands at just 0.072 seconds per lap.

Lindblad has delivered several notable outings. His debut in Australia saw top-nine qualifying, a competitive race and eighth-place points.

Canada brought ninth in both qualifying sessions, a sprint point, before a gearbox issue on the grid for the grand prix.

He must convert such performances into regular results rather than isolated peaks, though this is typical for a young rookie - he remains only 18.

Team principal Alan Permane commented last month: "He started off at a high level, of course. He's been very smart in the people he has around him off track. He has (reigning Formula E world champion) Ollie Rowland looking after him, or being a mentor, or a sounding board, or whatever you want to call it.

"He's quite demanding, Arvid, which is good as well. He wants everything immediately. If anything, (you need) to sort of calm him down and keep him there.

"You can see he's aiming high, aiming for the top. He's self-critical, which is, again, I find a good and refreshing thing in drivers. The first place he looks is himself to find performance. So, no issues with Arvid, he's doing a very good job."

It was interesting to find out that Red Bull have the most powerful engine. Beyond the question of understanding how they achieved this, as they are not one of the big car manufacturers, I was asking myself why are Red Bull not competing for race wins every weekend? - Simon

"Interesting" is not the term Red Bull would apply to the FIA declaration that they possess the most powerful internal combustion engine in Formula 1 this season.

"Surprising" would better capture their view.

They do not accept the assessment and believe Mercedes hold the strongest unit. They have requested the FIA revisit its conclusions.

This carries significance because, under current regulations, Red Bull cannot develop their engine this year or next, unlike their rivals.

Regardless of the outcome, Red Bull's new engine operation - established specifically for these regulations - has performed impressively in its first season.

On the chassis front, Red Bull acknowledge they trail the leaders. Team principal Laurent Mekies stated in April that they were "even more so (behind) in terms of chassis performance. So we know we have a lot of work ahead of us."

Red Bull have already introduced one substantial car update this year. Further developments are required for a squad averaging 0.675 seconds behind in qualifying so far.

The concern for Red Bull is that this performance level falls short of Max Verstappen's expectations and may not suffice to retain him beyond this season.

Verstappen's contract extends to 2028 but includes a performance clause whose specifics remain unclear, yet under present conditions it permits him to depart at season's end if desired.

Should he leave, Mercedes would represent the clear destination, triggering a series of driver changes.

For the present, however, everything depends on Verstappen's decision.