Felipe Massa ended a six-year wait for a pole position as Williams produced a surprise upset over Mercedes in qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix.
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Team mate Valtteri Bottas joined him on the front row after making a mistake on his final lap that likely cost him a maiden Formula One pole. They pushed Nico Rosberg down to third, while Lewis Hamilton will start ninth after two spins in Q3.
Q1
Mercedes progressed comfortably into the second phase of qualifying without using the super-soft tyres, setting their times on the soft compound. They were briefly separated by Daniil Kvyat when the Toro Rosso driver switched to super-softs and posted a quicker lap.
The stewards followed through on their warning about track limits at turn eight: several drivers had their fastest laps deleted for running four wheels wide at that corner.
Adrian Sutil was among those who lost times for exceeding the track limits, and the deleted laps left him vulnerable during the final runs. He ultimately failed to progress to Q2.
Joining Sutil in elimination were team mate Esteban Gutierrez, the two Marussias and the two Caterhams.
Drivers eliminated in Q1
| 17 | Adrian Sutil | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’10.825 |
| 18 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’11.349 |
| 19 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia-Ferrari | 1’11.412 |
| 20 | Kamui Kobayashi | Caterham-Renault | 1’11.673 |
| 21 | Max Chilton | Marussia-Ferrari | 1’11.775 |
| 22 | Marcus Ericsson | Caterham-Renault | 1’12.673 |
Q2
Fernando Alonso had a scare in Q2 when he ran wide at the final corner, joining a list of drivers punished by the rough astroturf and bumpy grass at the circuit. He recovered to post a time that put him through to Q3, as did team mate Kimi Raikkonen, who had been in the drop zone earlier.
The biggest name to miss the final ten was Sebastian Vettel, whose final lap was ruined by running wide at turn three at his home track. Pastor Maldonado also failed to progress after sliding off at turn five on his last attempt.
Mercedes again topped the times in Q2, with Rosberg ahead of Hamilton, though Rosberg reported that the balance of his car remained slightly off heading into the shootout for pole.
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Drivers eliminated in Q2
| 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’09.754 |
| 12 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’09.780 |
| 13 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 1’09.801 |
| 14 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus-Renault | 1’09.939 |
| 15 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’10.073 |
| 16 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1’10.642 |
Q3
Hamilton looked quickest through the opening two sectors of his first flying lap in Q3, but at the notorious turn eight his car snapped sideways and he ran onto the runoff area. That would normally have handed Rosberg pole, but Williams were strong on super-soft tyres and Bottas initially led the way.
Bottas failed to improve on his final attempt after placing two wheels on the grass at turn seven, leaving an opening for Mercedes. But they could not take full advantage: Hamilton locked up at turn two on his last run and spun off for a second time in Q3. Rosberg, approaching the same sequence, had to back off for the yellow flag that followed.
With Mercedes unable to capitalize, Massa produced a lap that, while not flawless, was clean enough to secure his first pole since the 2008 season finale.
Hamilton’s failure to post a valid final time drops him to the fifth row of the grid, alongside Nico Hulkenberg, whose final lap was deleted for exceeding track limits.
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Top ten in Q3
| 1 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1’08.759 |
| 2 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Mercedes | 1’08.846 |
| 3 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’08.944 |
| 4 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1’09.285 |
| 5 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-Renault | 1’09.466 |
| 6 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’09.515 |
| 7 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’09.619 |
| 8 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’10.795 |
| 9 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | |
| 10 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes |
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