Qualifying - Austrian GP report: Williams Mercedes

Qualifying Notes

— Felipe qualified fourth and Valtteri sixth for tomorrow’s Austrian Grand Prix.
— After making it through a damp Q1, the track conditions improved every lap.
— Both cars set times on the option tyre in Q3 before their final runs were disrupted by yellow flags.

Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering

It was a mixed qualifying session with the drying track making it important to make fewer mistakes than those around us, which we did. We have got the cars in a reasonable position for the race tomorrow, and the team and car have been performing well throughout the weekend. We were let down a little by the yellow flags today, but there is potential for a good result tomorrow.

Felipe Massa

My best lap could have been quicker. I made a mistake and also the tyres would have been quicker for our final attempt, plus we would have had less fuel. That’s not to say we would have been higher than P4 though, and these things happen in qualifying. The conditions were good, so we hope it stays like that for the race tomorrow. Our long run pace looks strong and that could be key.

Valtteri Bottas

Sixth isn’t totally representative of the pace of the car considering there is only one Ferrari in front. We suffered a lot with the yellow flags and so I am a little disappointed with where we will start from tomorrow. Saying that though, we have a very quick car in race trim and so can still have a good fight for the positions ahead.