Qualifying - German GP report: Williams Mercedes

Valtteri Bottas qualified eighth and Felipe Massa 10th for the German Grand Prix

Both cars progressed from Q1 into Q2 after one run each on the supersoft tyre, with Valtteri easily advancing through in P7 and Felipe in P15

Valtteri and Felipe both went out twice in Q2 on new supersofts. The Toro Rosso of Sainz hampered Felipe at Turn 2 on his first run, which forced him to go again. Felipe eventually made it through in P10 on his final lap. Valtteri made it through to Q3 in P5 with a 1:15.490, his fastest time of the day

Setting one timed lap each in Q3, Felipe headed out first onto a clear track, followed by Valtteri who also entered the track with no cars ahead. Valtteri and Felipe crossed the line in P6 and P7, but dropped to P8 and P10 as the remainder of the field finished their flying laps

Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering

It was a very close session. From Mercedes and Red Bull backwards the laptimes are really tight and even Ferrari didn’t have much of a margin on us. We worked hard this morning to ensure that we could get a good qualifying balance, which I think we achieved. Both drivers made little mistakes on their final lap, which would have secured them seventh and eighth, but as a team we haven’t done a bad job. We’re never going to be content with eighth and 10th because that’s not where we ultimately want to be, but for this weekend that’s what we will accept. We made great strides on our qualifying pace yesterday and understanding where that pace had to come from, which will transfer into good race pace. I’m convinced that we’ve got a good race car and we’re aiming to outscore our closest rivals.

Valtteri Bottas

It was a very consistent qualifying session from us as a team. It was a very close session, as expected, but the balance of the car felt good and we managed to get the tyres to work better. We are missing a bit of grip compared to the cars in front so I think we more or less got the maximum from the car today. I had some traffic in the last sector on my Q3 run which cost me a few hundredths, so I could have been seventh, but apart from that I’m pretty pleased with my qualifying today.

Felipe Massa

I’d say it was a very competitive qualifying today, especially with Force India. We are constantly fighting for a tenth. I was very happy with my lap; but I just went into the turn too much at corner 12 and I lost time on my lap because of that. That’s the only thing that happened or else I’d have easily been one tenth quicker. So that’s a shame, but I will try even harder for the team tomorrow.