Qualifying - Monaco GP report: Williams Mercedes

Valtteri Bottas qualified 13th and Felipe Massa 16th in a tough qualifying session in Monaco. Valtteri struggled to get heat into his front tyres whilst Felipe was involved in an incident with Marcus Ericsson which ended his running in the opening session.

Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering

Today hasn’t been the easiest of days as is clear from our qualifying positions. Qualifying is important here however there are 78 laps tomorrow meaning we still have time to recuperate and score some points. The midfield was very tight and sadly due to the nature of the circuit we were towards the back of it rather than in our usual position at the front of it. There were just a few tenths in it from where we should be so we need to analyse everything to ensure we understand it more for tomorrow. Felipe had an unlucky session with the incident with Ericsson which is unfortunate as he was looking good up to that point and we didn’t quite have the pace in Valtteri’s car. There is a little bit of work to do to get into the points tomorrow but it is ultimately still very possible.

Valtteri Bottas

As a team this wasn’t the optimum result. The issue we had was the getting heat into the front tyres. The car felt ok, but I didn’t have the grip that I wanted. We have some work to do to try and get this sorted for tomorrow. I am still optimistic of some points though as they are only a few places away and anything can happen in Monaco.

Felipe Massa

I did everything I could in the first session but at the end Ericsson hit me and that ruined my qualifying. I was hopeful for a good position today as the car actually felt ok; it would have been a fight to get into the top ten, not easy, but possible. I am disappointed and tomorrow is going to be a challenge but with this car points are still possible.