The Williams team have been at the brink of something great for the last few races now and they have done it in Austria! Felipe Massa will lead an all Williams front row to start the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring tomorrow.
This brings to an end Mercedes’ front row streak and brings a whole bucketload of new excitement ahead of tomorrow’s race.
Massa banged in a brilliant lap for his Williams team, ringing in a time of 1:08.759, four tenths off Michael Schumacher’s 2003 lap record of 1:08.337. Williams teammate Valtteri Bottas also put in a special lap to lock out the front row with a 1:08.846. Who could have predicted this result? Certainly not Nico Rosberg who brought his Mercedes home in third place and in the post qualifying press conference said he never expected to see the two Williams drivers ahead of him.
Massa hailed a “great moment” for his Williams team stating at the press conference, “I’m so happy what’s happened today with us, our team it was such a great moment, it was a long time I had my last pole which was Brazil in 2008”.
“It’s such an incredible moment, for sure we need to concentrate on the race as it’s important but this is the best place to be, in the first place, it’s something I got the chance to be many times in all my career. Now I’m here again, after a long time that I couldn’t be on this place. I hope this is the beginning of great possibilities to be here again also in the race. It isn’t just emotional for me but I think is similar for what Williams feel as well. They had [an] incredible career in the past and they are back to the top, back to the fight. There is a way to go but I’m so pleased for me and for Williams.”
Mercedes had looked fastest throughout this afternoon’s qualifying session but it all fell apart in Q3 for both Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. Hamilton will start 9th from the grid following a nasty little spin with Rosberg claiming that his teammate’s spin hampered his chances of getting the pole position.
Hamilton lost the rear of his car under braking at Turn 2 which sent him into a 180 degree spin and out of contention. This after his first attempt at a pole time was disallowed after he ran wide at Turn 8 and left the track which the stewards had warned before the race would result in times being deleted.
Bottas also made a mistake on his final lap which could very well have been the difference between himself and Williams teammate Massa.
Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest in his underwhelming Ferrari ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, Kevin Magnussen and Daniil Kvyat. Kimi Raikkonen opted not to set a competitive time in Q3 and qualified 8th. Nico Hulkenberg rounds out the Top 10 behind Lewis Hamilton after deciding not to set a time at all in Q3.
Your full timesheets are below. Tomorrow’s race is all set for action and we can only wonder how the Williams duo will hold back the Mercedes team for the race. Join us for live commentary on Twitter and don’t forget to enter to WIN A VIP EXPERIENCE AT THE BELGIAN GRAND PRIX!
Williams’ Rob Smedley: “We are coming out of a race where we’ve shown great pace and good tyre management so going into Austria we can be confident of aiming for the front again.”
