Williams lock out front row in surprise Austria qualifying - Felipe Massa takes pole position as Mercedes fall behind
Published by Christine
One of the problems the FIA have had this weekend is getting drivers to obey the track limits, particularly at turn 8. This manifested itself big time during qualifying, with many drivers finding their lap times disallowed. Lewis Hamilton was one of those, as the Mercedes driver had his first lap in Q3 deleted, and his second ended in a spin.
That left him ninth and out of the battle for pole. Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg could only manage third fastest, with two very competitive Williams cars locking out the front row. Felipe Massa pipped Valtteri Bottas to pole by less than a tenth of a second, giving Williams their first pole position since 2012.
Meanwhile, the two Sauber drivers were both knocked out in Q1, along with Caterham and Marussia. Sergio Pérez managed 11th place, just missing out on the top ten, but the Mexican will start 16th anyway, thanks to his penalty from Canada. TNico Hülkenberg, in the other Force India, finished tenth, after his time in Q3 was, you guessed it, disallowed.
