Qualifying - Malaysian GP report: Williams Mercedes

Qualifying Notes
— Felipe Massa qualified seventh and Valtteri Bottas ninth for tomorrow’s Malaysian GP
— The end of Q2 was affected by heavy rain and thunderstorms but both drivers made it through into the top 10 shootout
— Q3 was delayed due to the weather but once the rain subsided both drivers were on track on intermediate tyres for their final lap of the day

Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering

Changeable conditions made it a tough session. We were on the right tyre at the right time and attempted to be the last car across the line knowing the track was improving every lap. We need to consider why our performance wasn’t there in the wet conditions but we have a very good car in race trim as we saw on Friday. We have a lot to do tomorrow but the temperature is looking like it will be very hot during the race so we must make the right strategic decisions.

Felipe Massa

It wasn’t the easiest day today, I think in the dry we can both be in the top five. We still have some of the issues in the wet that we had last season, hopefully we can now look to solve a few of those. Tomorrow looks like it will be dry though, so we hope for a better race.

Valtteri Bottas

I am a little disappointed with how the day turned out. I felt like I did a good lap so was a little surprised to be in P9. I wanted to be the last car across the line and so was pleased to be, we just have some work to do on the wet weather performance. Hopefully it will be dry tomorrow, but it will also be hot and so nothing will be easy, especially from ninth.