21/06/2014
NEWS STORY
Felipe Massa leads an all-Williams front row after an exciting qualifying session for the Austrian Grand Prix today. Valtteri led the way from Nico Rosberg until the final moments with a great lap securing his front row position alongside his teammate. Today's result is Felipe's first pole position since Brazilian Grand Prix 2008 and the first front row lockout for the team since the German Grand Prix in 2003.
Felipe Massa: 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.
Valtteri Bottas: I am really happy for us as a team as it is such a good result. It couldn't have been a better Saturday for us. I would have liked to have been on pole, but Felipe had the better lap when it mattered. Tomorrow isn't going to be easy as the Mercedes are still the quickest car. I pushed a bit too hard on my final lap at Turn Six, but I was already down on my quickest. Tomorrow the strategy will be important and so we have to be clever with what we do. We are in a better position than the Ferraris and the Red Bull so it should be really good fun.
Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering: I am really pleased. The guys have done a very good job. This is just the start of the 71 laps though but we will start in the best position possible. We need to think hard about how we maximise this in terms of points at the end of the race. Tomorrow will be hotter but we know from our long runs where the issues will be that we will face, it will be a defensive race tomorrow as we try to keep everyone else behind us but for the team this is a much deserved result for all the hard work that has been put in both at the factory and race track.
Check out our Saturday gallery, here.