It is becoming clear that world champion Lewis Hamilton has two aims in an F1 season seriously delayed and dishevelled by the coronavirus pandemic, that has only recently got under way with back-to-back races in Austria.
The first aim is obviously to win a record-equalling seventh drivers' championship. But the secondary aim has become a little clearer after Hamilton celebrated an easy first win of 2020 by giving a Black Power fist salute synonymous with the black-gloved salute black US athletes controversially displayed on the podium at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico.
Tommie Smith, the gold medal winner in the 200m event that year, was joined by his bronze medal compatriot John Carlos with a gesture that was reported as a Black Power salute even though Smith and Carlos insisted it was a human rights salute.
Hamilton has been instrumental in getting F1 to back the anti-racism campaign that has run worldwide in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. You could be excused for thinking that the fight against racism that gained international momentum following the death of US black citizen George Floyd is a useful diversion from Covid-19, which has changed the way the world functions.
Floyd died after a white police officer put his knee on his neck for nearly nine minutes in Minneapolis, following an apparent arrest, and suffocated him.
The police officer and three other officers who stood by have been charged with murder.
Covid-19 has also changed the F1 scene, with the eight rescheduled races in Europe being held as "behind closed doors" events, and with limited F1 personnel attending. More than 4000 tests have been carried out on those who attended the Austrian and Styrian Grands Prix, and that testing will continue as F1 moves to Hungary this weekend.
The Mercedes team painted their cars with black livery, and their drivers are wearing black overalls, to show the team's support for the call to end racism. Hamilton wore a black T-shirt emblazoned with the words "Black Lives Matter" and took to one knee, along with 13 of his fellow drivers, before the start of last week's Austrian GP, won by Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas.
The other six drivers who didn't take the knee were criticised in some quarters for not doing so, despite wearing T-shirts with the words "End Racism" to show their support.
A similar scenario was played out in the pre-race ceremony for what was in effect a sequel to the Austrian GP at the same Red Bull Ring circuit, renamed the Styrian GP, after the region in which the circuit is situated.
On the Thursday before that race, Hamilton was asked if he needed to refocus on racing after receiving a time penalty in the Austrian GP that meant he finished fourth, as opposed to his role in organising anti-racism demonstrations.
"I'm still focused on both," he replied. "Trying to fight and win this championship but also fighting for equal rights."
That equal rights battle Hamilton is embracing has not distracted him from his ability to win races. From the moment he captured a mind-boggling 89th F1 pole position in a wet qualifying with a time 1.2 seconds ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen in second spot, it was evident that the Lewis Hamilton that seemed distracted in the opening race, was back with a vengeance.
He duly converted that pole into a wire-to-wire victory, the 85th win of a career that has no obvious endpoint, given the way Mercedes continues to dominate the F1 scene. Verstappen was unable to stay with Hamilton in the race and eventually succumbed in the closing laps to the other Mercedes of Bottas, to give the Constructors' victors for six straight years, an early stranglehold on a record seventh title.
Just as the sequel to a hit movie is often not as exciting or memorable as the original, so it could be said about the Styrian GP in contrast to the Austrian GP. The latter was dramatic and largely unpredictable throughout, whereas the Styrian race was pretty much a procession, if you exclude the first and last laps.
The Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel provided the excitement on lap one. Vettel had again qualified poorly, starting 10th on the grid, and Leclerc was given a three-place penalty for impeding Daniil Kvyat in qualifying, so he started 14th.
However, the two managed to come together at turn three on lap one. Leclerc made a clumsy lunge up the inside to try and overtake Vettel, only to hit the rear of his teammate's car, causing terminal damage to both cars, which retired on lap one and five respectively.
This is not the first time Leclerc and Vettel have collided. The last time was just four races ago in Brazil, but despite that, Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto said he didn't think there was much he could say to his drivers.
"Its somehow a pain to conclude a race in such a way after only two laps," Binotto said.
"I think it's the worst conclusion on a very bad weekend somehow. I think it's not the time to look for responsibility or accuse, its time to work united."
He didn't have to look far to find who was responsible, as Leclerc admitted on Twitter he was to blame.
@Charles_Leclerc: "Clearly, it's my fault…I've been an a…hole. Today I f…ked it up"
"Seb hasn't got any faults today. I've let the team down after them working a whole week to bring the updates early."
Vettel was surprisingly philosophical, considering Ferrari has dropped him after this season and clearly favour Leclerc.
"I hold no grudges," Vettel said. "In the end, it is bitter for both of us because the race should have given us answers to our questions."
Hamilton went into the second race of his campaign to win a seventh title, with some questions and doubts of his own, after his problems in race one, stating it was "with great difficulty" that he put the Austrian GP result behind him.
"But when there is a will there is a way. The last weekend definitely was psychologically challenging. I don't know why there are some tracks where drivers are stronger at some than others, but this is one of my weaker circuits. So, to have a performance like this today…I'm over the moon, so happy. I also know though that there is a long way to go."
As for the anti-racism protest, Hamilton says he will continue encouraging his fellow drivers to take part in the protests, noting "some felt like they'd... one was enough last week and I just had to encourage them that racism is here, going to be here for probably longer than our time here and people of colour who are subject to racism don't have time to take a moment to protest and that be it.
"We've got to continue to push for equality and really to raise awareness of it."
He said he was grateful to his teammate, Valtteri Bottas, and the team, for supporting his cause. Bottas has a six-point lead over Hamilton in the championship, with McLaren's Lando Norris third, another 11 points back after adding a fifth-place finish to his podium last week.
Bottas says his second placing was "damage limitation" after starting from fourth on the grid, knowing Hamilton on pole was likely to control the race, much as he had done himself the week before. Verstappen lamented the fact that he did not have the pace to challenge Mercedes.
"I tried but we are a bit too slow," he said. "I did what I could when Valtteri passed me. I tried to make it more difficult because he was anyway going to get by one lap later. But at least it was a bit of fun because the race was boring. The podium was good but still a bit of work to do."
Verstappen's teammate, Alex Albon, was fourth, his best result so far in F1, but like Verstappen, he said the car "lacked a bit of pace".
Mercedes leads the Constructors' championship with 80 points, with McLaren second on 39 points and Red Bull third, on 27 points. But Red Bull boss Christian Horner doesn't fear McLaren. Rather his concern is Racing Point, for whom Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll were sixth and seventh respectively, although Renault has protested against that team.
"I think everybody would be worried by the Racing Point," Horner said. "I mean, he was quicker than a Mercedes, Perez, at that point in the race.
"Bearing in mind that Bottas was on tyres that were within one lap of age to the Racing Point, Perez was three or four tenths quicker. So, it was very impressive pace that they showed."
Renault has put in a protest about the front and rear brake ducts on the car dubbed the "Pink Mercedes" given its close resemblance to the 2019 Mercedes car. Renault says Racing Point has breached the rules that demand teams are responsible for designing listed parts themselves.
Mercedes have been ordered by the FIA to provide the corresponding parts on their 2019 cars so the comparison can be made. Watch this space, as it could mean trouble for Racing Point.
Renault continue to struggle although Daniel Ricciardo was running sixth until he was overtaken on the last two laps by Stroll and Norris.
The Racing Point protest aside, Renault has also been in the news lately to announce Fernando Alonso, who won back-to-back titles with Renault in 2005-6, is rejoining the team in 2021 for a third stint.
Hamilton, who has a few back-to-back titles himself, added, "I love back-to-back races. Can we do them all year?" That may happen as F1's scramble to put a 2020 calendar together, continues.