Williams Martini Racing have claimed their first front row since 2003 for Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix. Felipe Massa took pole position at the Red Bull Ring which has come back to the F1 calendar for the first time in 11 years.
An exciting qualifying session that denies Mercedes their dominance of owning every single pole position in 2014 with Nico Rosberg starting from 3rd on the grid on Sunday. Massa was emotional about his pole position saying:
“It’s an incredible moment for me, but the whole team is feeling this too. The team has a great history and we continue to build on that. It’s a special day. I had some traffic earlier in the session but when it counted I did the best I could. There is a lot to do tomorrow and we have a very strong Mercedes behind us. Today is a day I won’t forget though and it’s the first time my son has seen me get pole so emotions are high.”
As time ran out, the Mercedes duo of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton were both caught out in their bid for pole when Hamilton spun under braking and according to Nico, scuttling Rosberg’s attempt for pole. Hamilton is befuddled as to what happened and said he is not sure why his rear brakes locked up spinning him off the circuit.
The penultimate lap saw Hamilton go wide on turn 8 placing all four wheels over the white line. FIA race director Charlie Whiting had warned all drivers that doing so would invalidate that lap’s time.
Red Bull’s home Grand Prix turned out to be a bit of a damp squib for the team as Sebastian Vettel failed to make it into Q3 while Daniel Ricciardo only managed a 5th place starting position for Sunday.
Results of qualifying
Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1m08.759s 2. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1m08.846s +0.087 3. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m08.944s +0.185 4. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m09.285s +0.526 5. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 1m09.466s +0.707 6. Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 1m09.515s +0.756 7. Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Renault 1m09.619s +0.860 8. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m10.795s +2.036 9. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 10. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes Q2 cut-off time: 1m09.657s Gap ** 11. Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1m09.754s +0.780s 12. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m09.780s +0.806s 13. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m09.801s +0.827s 14. Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 1m09.939s +0.965s 15. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Renault 1m10.073s +1.099s 16. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m10.642s +1.668s Q1 cut-off time: 1m10.821s Gap * 17. Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 1m10.825s +1.311s 18. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m11.349s +1.835s 19. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari 1m11.412s +1.898s 20. Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault 1m11.673s +2.159s 21. Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari 1m11.775s +2.261s 22. Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault 1m12.673s +3.159s
