Massa leads shock one-two for Williams in Austria

2014 Austrian Grand Prix qualifying

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Felipe Massa ended his six-year pole position drought as Williams inflicted a surprise defeat on Mercedes in qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix.

Team mate Valtteri Bottas joins him on the front row of the grid after making a mistake on his final lap which may have cost him his first Formula One pole position.

They relegated Nico Rosberg to third place and Lewis Hamilton will start ninth after spinning off twice in Q3.

Q1

The Mercedes drivers easily progressed into the second part of qualifying without having to use the super-soft tyres. They headed the times with the laps they set on the soft compound, but were split by Daniil Kvyat when the Toro Rosso driver switched to the super-soft tyres.

The stewards proved true to their word when they had warned the drivers about running wide at turn eight. Several drivers had their quickest times deleted after putting four wheels wide in turn eight.

Adrian Sutil was one of the drivers who made that mistake, and it could have cost him a place in Q2 as he was squeezed out in the final runs.

He was joined by team mate Esteban Gutierrez and the two Marussias and Caterhams as usual.

Drivers eliminated in Q1

17Adrian SutilSauber-Ferrari1’10.825
18Esteban GutierrezSauber-Ferrari1’11.349
19Jules BianchiMarussia-Ferrari1’11.412
20Kamui KobayashiCaterham-Renault1’11.673
21Max ChiltonMarussia-Ferrari1’11.775
22Marcus EricssonCaterham-Renault1’12.673

Q2

Fernando Alonso had a fright during Q2 when he became the latest driver to run wide at the final corner. The Astroturf and bumpy grass had punished several others during practice.

He recovered later in the session to secure a place in Q3, as did team mate Kimi Raikkonen who had been in the drop zone following the first runs.

But the biggest name which failed to make it into the final ten was Sebastian Vettel. The Red Bull driver ran wide at turn three on his final effort, meaning he failed to reach Q3 at their home circuit.

Pastor Maldonado also went out in Q2 after skidding off the track at turn five on his last attempt.

The Mercedes drivers headed the times with Rosberg ahead this time, though he remained slightly unhappy with the balance of his car heading into the shoot-out for pole position.

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Drivers eliminated in Q2

11Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1’09.754
12Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes1’09.780
13Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault1’09.801
14Pastor MaldonadoLotus-Renault1’09.939
15Jean-Eric VergneToro Rosso-Renault1’10.073
16Romain GrosjeanLotus-Renault1’10.642

Q3

Two sectors into his first flying lap in Q3 everything was looking good for Hamilton. He was fastest of all through both of them, but as he arrived at the troublesome turn eight his car snapped sideways, pitching him onto the run-off.

Ordinarily that would have paved the way for Rosberg to take pole position but the Williams pair were flying on the super-soft tyres and it was Bottas who led the way.

However he failed to improve with his final run as he put two wheels onto the grass in turn seven. That presented an opportunity for Mercedes to take their usual one-two – but they weren’t able to take advantage.

Heading towards turn two, Hamilton’s rear brakes locked, sending him spinning off for the second time in Q3. There was more bad news for the team as Rosberg was not far behind him and, in circumstances not unlike what happened in Monaco, he had to back off for the resulting yellow flag.

But while the Mercedes team were unable to capitalise Bottas’s team mate could. Massa’s lap was slightly scruffy, but it was clean enough for him to claim his first pole position since the 2008 season finale.

Hamilton’s failure to set a time drops him to the fifth row of the grid which he shares with Nico Hulkenberg, whose final time was deleted for running wide.

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Top ten in Q3

1Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1’08.759
2Valtteri BottasWilliams-Mercedes1’08.846
3Nico RosbergMercedes1’08.944
4Fernando AlonsoFerrari1’09.285
5Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-Renault1’09.466
6Kevin MagnussenMcLaren-Mercedes1’09.515
7Daniil KvyatToro Rosso-Renault1’09.619
8Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’10.795
9Lewis HamiltonMercedes
10Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes

2014 Austrian Grand Prix

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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96 comments on “Massa leads shock one-two for Williams in Austria”

  1. It’s all Mercedes fault, they should have let Hamilton do two qualification laps given that he failed to do a time on his first attempt.

    Great quali from Kvyat, Vettel deceiving

    1. yeah Mercedes forced Hamilton off on his first run and they pressed a button in the cockpit so he spun on the 2nd run….

    2. yeah Mercedes forced Hamilton off on his first run and they pressed a button in the cockpit so he spun on the 2nd run….

    3. I think you mean “Vettel disappointing”

      1. I would agree with that. The margin wasn’t actually that big between him and Ricciardo though in Q2.

        1. I’m not saying that Vettel was disappointing, just that it’s what @paeschli meant. I certainly don’t see how Vettel was “deceiving” :-)

  2. So Rosberg does have the psychological edge over his partner… Congrats to Felipe!

  3. I have a inkling that both Pastor Maldonado and Ferrari are feeling a bit annoyed about now…

    1. Not sure I follow. May I ask why?

      1. Pastor Maldonado is clear, he was talking trash about Williams at the end of 2013 and then he left :-) Ferrari maybe because they let Massa go? But they should only feel annoyed because their car isn’t good enough yet again this year.

      2. @evered7 Pastor Maldonado left for Enstone and Massa left for England.

        1. @davidnotcoulthard @gdewilde Thanks much! That explains it. Maldo might be ruing his words now. Not too sure about Ferrari feeling annoyed. They will be pretty happy to have closed the gap against the Merc powered teams.

          Massa’s performance isn’t his own doing only. The car is there and he has done extremely well to have placed it in its rightful position. Ferrari will feel annoyed for paying him while he was not doing his job right.

          Not to diss them on this wonderful day for Williams and Massa, hope they make the best out the result tomorrow.

    2. I think maldonado left because he had troubles with some of the william crew, i dont think it was something about the car perfomance, i believe he said something about it when he was leaving the team even before the americas incident.

    3. Why would Ferrari be annoyed? If this season has proven anything, it’s the fact that Massa never lost any speed due to his accident or Hockenheim 2010 (as many people claim). Massa and Kimi were on the same level troughout their Ferrari time together and they’re both virtually identically slow compared to Alonso.

      1. Ferrari is annoyed because now they pay Raikkonen 3 times Massa’s salary to do the same thing he was doing last year.

        1. Hahaha, that pretty much sums it up! :)

      2. All that indicates to me is that Alonso is a pretty excellent driver, and that we really need a showdown between himself and Vettel/Hamilton.

  4. WilliamB (@william-brierty)
    21st June 2014, 14:28

    Yet more evidence, if it were needed, that the out of touch insults leveled at the new formula by F1’s naysayers, such as those of Ferrari’s Luca di Montezemelo, are nothing more than the aloof and anarchic mutterings of a team that has lost it touch. What a thrilling season. What a lens 2014 is to view previous years through: namely Felipe Massa, who many suggested (including me – who linked Felipe with a comfy Ferrari GTE drive, not a Williams race seat) had lost his former speed because he scored less than half the points of Alonso during their partnership, is now performing fabulously against his young hotly-tipped teammate; as illustrated by a GORGEOUSLY driven pole lap today. And that poses the subsidiary: if Massa is still fast, what kind of job was Alonso doing in past seasons to annihilate him so emphatically?

    1. I’m glad he proved the naysayers wrong, always had a sweet spot for him.

      His first pole since 2008, that must’ve been a long time waiting ^^

    2. I wouldn’t say it was a gorgeous lap. It was scruffy at best. But congrats to him for taking the opportunity to grab a pole when Mercs were looking vulnerable.

      I hope he is able to get a podium or points tomorrow. That is where it all matters.

      1. WilliamB (@william-brierty)
        21st June 2014, 19:00

        @evered7 – The lock-up into three cost him no time at all, in fact he took nice apex speed and a good exit. If there was anything wrong with the lap it was turn five, where he had a substantial wobble, but a lock-up doesn’t automatically mean time loss. Perhaps it was scruffy in places, but seeing a driver so efficiently jockeying the rear end in a car with a not inconsiderable amount of oversteer is always gorgeous in my eyes.

    3. In that case, was Massa a benchmark for the Ferrari cars? In 2010 he had a good run, but in the next years he was terrible. In 2011 the car wasnt that good, in 2012 it started terrible, got better, and fell behind. In 2013 it started very well, and fell behind.

      1. WilliamB (@william-brierty)
        21st June 2014, 19:06

        @austus – You’ve misunderstood me. Because Massa performed poorly against Alonso, but is now showing his speed against the well-regarded Bottas, thus suggesting that the job Alonso has been doing in past seasons is quite simply remarkable, and not merely the signature speed deficit between a fast driver and one past his best.

    4. It is simply a pole position. He will not realize that in win or even 2nd place, believe me.
      Bottas is not highly rated, he is boring and slow racer.
      Williams has very good car but disgustingly terrible drivers. In the WCC they should be on the 2nd place. Instead they are worse than Force India, Ferrari and even McLaren. Astonishing in bad sense.
      We should be happy that they have 1-2 in quali, though. I was yelling pretty loud:-)

      1. Mr.Nighthawk
        21st June 2014, 15:11

        I’m sorry but here you are clearly wrong. I’m not not saying Massa is the greates driver but he had his ups and down. Remember 2008. Bottas is still new but can still out perform Massa on a few occasions who has more experience. Maybe not the best duo but still not the worst. Vettel was supperior for the last 4 years but look at him now… it’s not all his fault of course the car is not the best. And even when he was the best it was not all him…it was also the car.

        Williams had the potentintial to be a lot better in the begining of the season but they made a few mistakes. Both drivers and the entire team. But compared to the last season…this is still a wonderful result for now. And it might get better.

      2. So, being ‘boring’ makes a bad race driver?

        Prost says ‘hello’.

        But I do agree with you on the Massa thing. I highly doubt we’ll see this pole materialise in to a win. I think we’ll see one Williams on the podium in third. They just always seem to cock up their strategy.

        I think Bottas will need to play the holding role and do his best to keep Rosberg behind for a few laps while Massa tries to build a substantial lead.

        I can’t see tyre conversation/going toe-to-toe with Mercedes as a good bet for Williams.

        1. @ecwdanselby that’s if ROS doesn’t blow past BOT and MAS at the start.

      3. @slava

        Williams has very good car but disgustingly terrible drivers

        Either that or a decent line-up coupled with tyre-eating cars.

      4. WilliamB (@william-brierty)
        21st June 2014, 19:25

        @slava – You can bury your head in your pillow if you like, but Bottas is highly and that is just a fact.

        That frankly ignorant remark aside, whilst it is only a pole position, Massa has tended to be the marginally faster, in qualy trim at least, of the two Williams drivers and for a driver so profoundly dominated in recent years, and for driver that one might suggest is in the autumn of his career, that is somewhat unexpected. As per tomorrow, he’s not going to beat the Mercs, but with the excellent start system Williams have and the fact that Massa was fastest in the speed traps he can at least make the W05s work for it.

    5. Felipe’s lap wasn’t brilliant, but it was just enough. I’m a bit disappointed with Bottas’ mistake, it should be his pole.
      Anyway, it’s Williams 1-2, feels soo good.

    6. if Mercedes hadn’t failed it would have been another Mercedes 1-2. at the moment what is making interesting is if Mercedes have problems. like martin brundle said, there is formula Mercedes and formula 1 – take Mercedes out of the equation it is formula one, and exciting, like today was. but it should not be like that, it should be interesting at every race.

      1. Wow – no comment about Mercedes dominance due to engine homologation for a change?

        Williams and its drivers simply did a better job today, there was no “taking Mercedes out of the equation” they were there, had no apparent technical problems and neither driver was able to beat either Williams on merit over 2 runs each. That’s is what racing is all about – of course when one driver/team wins it is because someone else didn’t do good enough to beat them, it’s how competition works.

    7. DK (@seijakessen)
      21st June 2014, 17:03

      It’s called the Mercedes power unit that is making the difference.

      F1 fans are so clueless. You can only do straight driver comparisons when they are within the same team.

      1. @seijakessen Right – it’s like how all those clueless F1 fans rank Senna so highly, when all we can really say is he was better than a handful of team mates. What about the other 20-25 drivers he was racing every year who might all have been better than him. Who is to say he was even in the top 50 drivers during his years in F1?

        1. DK (@seijakessen)
          21st June 2014, 21:35

          @jerseyf1 Straw man argument alert. Let me know when you have something useful to say dolt.

      2. WilliamB (@william-brierty)
        21st June 2014, 21:44

        @seijakessen – Exactly, and because F1 fans (I find it amusing that your refer to these people in the third person since your have found and seemingly joined a leading blog for F1 fans) can only compare drivers in the same team, we can say a) that Alonso is better than Massa, and b) that Massa is as fast (if not marginally faster) than Bottas. Therefore there would be no giant killing performances, as with Vettel v. Ricciardo, if the highly rated Bottas was partnered with Fernando, who made beating Felipe, who is clearly still no slouch, look utterly easy and formulaic.

      3. “It’s called the Mercedes power unit that is making the difference.”

        Between who are you referring?

  5. Kinda nuts… Bad luck there for Hamilton, Roseberg and Button. Good job by Williams.

    1. What happened to Button?

      1. Button lost a lot of set up time in practice 3

        1. And on his last flying lap – was behind a Lotus that kept running wide before eventually going off -(Maldonado??- he didn’t mention names.)

  6. Lewis is not going to be at all confident in his car tomorrow after this snap oversteer problem seems to have arrived out of the blue in Q3… The car was absolutely planted all weekend until this stage. Very odd. It’s exactly what he won’t need facing a recovery drive from 9th.

    1. I think Lewis will absolutely hammer it tomorrow.

      What other option does he have?

      Should be exciting.

  7. I’m gutted, where were the sparks? I wanted to see sparks that qualification session and I didn’t see any. F1 has really lost its way in 2014.

    1. I was sparks all over the place! Brilliant quali!

    2. Hee hee! I thought it was a bit quiet, too.

      1. It was indeed deathly quiet. I am really baffled as to how people seem to think that if we have an interesting session or race, this affects the ‘noise’ debate in any way whatsoever, as if an interesting session or race could not somehow has still taken place with engines that sound like racing engines, and not strimmers. Can someone please explain this to me?

        1. @paulguitar because the noise is part of the whole package we enjoy.

          If we still enjoy F1 immensely without the loud noise then maybe its not as big an issue as people are making out.

  8. Felipe baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  9. Messed up my prediction but I’m so happy for Massa and Williams. He was always one of my favourite drivers on the current grid and Williams has so much tradition in F1 that it’s great to see them having some success again.
    Also a promising grid for tomorrow – not sure if RBR will be able to recover but I expect Dan and Seb to show us some good racing in the pack. HAM will storm to the front and Ferrari also looked strong to challenge for a podium position. Really looking forward to tomorrows race.

    1. Gideon Hadi (@)
      21st June 2014, 14:43

      @tmf42 My prediction also a disaster too

  10. Congrats to Williams, I am very happy. We should also take into account that it was rather Mercedes fault then winning of Williams. But anyway it is great.
    Pretty sure Williams can fight for 2nd and 3d places easily in the race.
    Ferrari again is terrible. They would lost at least 0.8 of a sec to the first time if Hamilton didn’t fail.

  11. Just woke up and opened F1 Fanatic to see the quali results. Seeing Massa’s name I thought Keith must have done a mistake. Kept refreshing the page to see if it changes. It didn’t. Still stunned!

  12. Congratulations to Sir Frank, his drivers and team. I, for one, did not foresee a front row lockout.

    1. Regardless of what Merc did or did Not Do !
      Ma19a and Bo77as were there 1 & 2 .
      And the record books do not record this a Merc mistake ,
      Its a Williams front row lockout!!!
      Only 8 races in and Mercs (factory team) every pole of the year is shot to shiite and every win of the year is looking shaky as a drunk duck !
      Whooooooooo
      Hoooooooooo

      A few more races like this and lewis and nico will stop trying to psych each other out and be trying to hold there crap together !

  13. Fikri Harish (@)
    21st June 2014, 14:38

    Damn. Had to miss this one for How to Train Your Dragon 2. I thought it was worth it, but after seeing the results, I’m not so sure anymore.

    1. Bhahahaaaa

      Oh that’s funny !

      Mate , the things we do for our kids eh!

      Please , tell me you did this for the kids ?
      Bhahaaaaaa

  14. So Hamilton cracks under pressure, Vettel continues to get humiliated by Ricciardo, Alonso out of Raikkonen’s touch once again and Williams realising their potential. The stories of the day.
    As for Massa I am really very happy for him, it is like he is born again! Way to go Felipe!

  15. OMG! Hamilton prevented Rosberg for doing pole lap! Bring Monaco shenanigans again! /sarcasm off

    1. Gideon Hadi (@)
      21st June 2014, 14:44

      yeah i think when Lewis spun, he actually blocked Nico on Sector 3, so Nico lost a little bit a time and Pole

    2. Hamilton clearly locked on purpose!

      1. Gideon Hadi (@)
        21st June 2014, 14:49

        actually if they keep doing like this, they may be unable to match McLaren record in 1988

    3. he forgot about setting a time before the flags, that was an important part

      1. @marik Nico is the stronger driver, mentally. Now we have proof.

        1. hahahahah cotd.

  16. I wouldn’t thought or believe if I haven’t see it with my eyes… Vettel away from the 3rd qf session, the Mercedes cars out of the first and second places…well, how about the race predictions? Can we change them? :)

  17. Hulk P10, how is he going to hold Alonso off this way?

    1. By doing one less pit-stop. I´d say Force India (and possibly, but unprobably Hamilton) one-stop, nearly everybody two-stop, Williams maybe have to do three.

  18. Go Massa! Incredible Williams 1-2 !

  19. Congratulations to Massa and Williams, great job.

  20. The past few years, every season Massa had a few flashes of brilliance when he looked as good a Alonso, he just did not have them often enough to matter. I guess he was due one this year as well.

    1. He did for the second half of 2012 against the “amazing season of Alonso” what he has to do is get two of these in a row, than he can fight for a ch.. nah im not saying this.

  21. So on the same day as Massa gets a pole position Alonso beats his new “two roosters in the same hen-house” team mate by 1.5s on the shortest track of the year. Ferrari’s decision to replace Massa with a driver they’d previously fired for being slower than Massa doesn’t seem to be working out so well.

    1. Daniel (@collettdumbletonhall)
      21st June 2014, 22:19

      I think Kimi may have messed up his last lap as they weren’t that far apart in any other session. Nonetheless he is doing a great job.

  22. I had almost givne up any hopes of seeing Felipe top a qualifying or race session… this is a very happy moment for me, even if by tomorrow it will count nothing! It will be hard to keep the lead…
    I also liked his celebration, he was clearly emotional and rushed to his family. I saw most teams on Twitter congratulated him, Smedley was about to cry with joy and the whole F1 paddock and fans must have been cheering for him, like they did when he waved at them. Six years! He had looked a step behind Bottas all weekend, but he set his best time when it counted most…

  23. Great qualifying from K Mag

  24. I think the last time we locked out the front row was also the last year this circuit was used. And I was barely old enough to drink.

    Can’t wait until tomorrow.

  25. I dare say that this was a quali where the driver who committed the less mistakes won.

  26. Never mind the drivers, where is the picture of Frank’s smile?

  27. What an own goal by Mercedes. First the Canada race, now this. They better perform to the potential of the car soon otherwise Red Bull and Ricciardo will be on their heels soon.

  28. Raikkonen is 1.5 seconds behind Alonso. How is he pulling that off?! I mean Kimi. It’s almost as if he’s trying to be slow. Vettel ain’t doing much better against Ricciardo, although he had some genuinely good qualis where he was faster than Ric.

    I’ve just realized that the only time this year that Vettel finished in front of Ric was in Malaysia where Ric retired, although Vettel was in front anyway. In other races Vettel had problem more then a few times, but I can’t believe that he NEVER finished in front of Ric in a race they both finished.

  29. Finish will be:
    Rosberg, Ricciardo, Alonso after Williams drivers once again manage to screw up and Hamilton’s car once again fails him.
    This should be the last season for Massa and Putt-Putt Button – and Kimi better decided if his heart is in this thing or not, too.

    1. Alonso – Ricciardo – Bottas

    2. lol. Good joke!

  30. Boring quali session. How can we like this “new Formula” when there are no sparks under the cars, no NOIZEEEE, and no Ferraris on pole? This season is a disaster. I’ll stop watching until all the teams are using the same engine, no fuel flow restrictions, sprinklers in order to make boring qualis like this more exciting, and when there are way less teams on the grid to keep track of. This is all just too complicated for me; good bye forever.

    1. Luca is that you?

  31. Couldn’t be happier for Williams and Massa, it’s like 1996 all over again. :)

  32. Six diferent teams in the seven first places! I like that.

  33. The last time I remember cars that were mostly white being on the front row, they were Brawn’s.
    And when was the last time that Vettel wasn’t in Q3?

  34. Daniel (@collettdumbletonhall)
    21st June 2014, 21:13

    Vettel will struggle tomorrow. Driving a car with poor straight line speed requires a good qualification to stand a decent chance of a result but starting on the backfoot gives no chance to recover.
    I hope that Merc’s don’t breeze past the Williams cars with DRS.

  35. Hi everyone!

    I’m looking for a pen-friend about F1 topic. My english knowledge is not too much, but I will try to improve it.
    My favourite driver is Kimi, but if your favourite driver is not Kimi, it’s not a problem.

  36. Sooooooo happy for Massa!

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