'Shocked' Williams team now hope to prove FW36 is race winner in Austrian GP
Felipe Massa admits his first pole since 2008 "emotional"; Sir Frank Williams believes team can show they have race-winning pace
Sunday 22 June 2014 11:58, UK
Williams have expressed their surprise and delight after Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas claimed a stunning front-row lockout for the team at the Austrian GP – with their owner now boldly predicting they can “prove that we have a very good race-winning car” on Sunday.
In the most unexpected result of the Mercedes-dominated season so far, Williams became the first team to deny the championship leaders pole position in 2014 and in the process claim their own first front-row lockout since the 2003 German GP - back when the Grove outfit were still a regular race-winning force.
Deputy Team Principal Claire Williams admitted that toppling Mercedes had come as a surprise but said the result was reward for the major restructuring work that has gone on at the team over the past year.
“I’m in a bit of shock, I think maybe everyone is,” she told Sky Sports F1 after Massa took Williams’ first pole since Pastor Maldonado’s in Spain two years ago.
“But that’s the result of a lot of hard work that’s been going on behind the scenes over a long time now and I’m so happy for everyone in the team here and at Grove. They deserve it.
"I’m not sure we necessarily expected this today, but I’m so happy for Felipe, he deserves this. He’s had a lot of bad luck over the past few races and I just hope we can now work on a really good strategy for tomorrow and capitalise on these positions because we have got to score a lot of points tomorrow.”
For Massa, Saturday’s qualifying result in Austria represented a particularly personal emotional achievement given it came 95 races after his last pole and six months after he was released by long-time employers Ferrari.
“I’m so happy what’s happened today with us, our team. It was such a great moment,” the 33-year-old said. “It was already a long time when I had my last pole position, which was in Brazil 2008, so it’s such an incredible moment.
“For sure we need to concentrate on the race for tomorrow, it’s a very difficult and important race for us, but I think it’s a great moment. The best place to be is here on the first place. It’s something I got the chance to be many times in all my career and I am again now. So after a long time that I couldn’t be on this place I hope this can be the beginning on maybe some great possibilities to be here again – not just in the qualifying but in the race,
“The race is tomorrow but I’m so happy and very emotional. Not just for me, I think it’s a similar feelings from what I feel and what Williams feel. Williams had an incredible career in the past and they are back to the top, they are back to the fight. There’s still a lot to do but I think the work is going on that line and I’m so pleased for me and Williams as well.”
Although he had held provisional pole up until the final Q3 runs, Bottas put aside any disappointment at missing out on a first F1 pole to express his delight for Williams. The Finn, however, is expecting a battle to hold position in the race.
“Best position so far. I’m really happy for us as a team, the result is really good at this point,” he said. “We’ve made some big, big steps from last year and now we get a result like this. Of course, it’s only Saturday, but still we can see all the hard work starts to pay off and I’m really happy for us.
“The race is tomorrow so we need to focus on that. It’s going to be a different story tomorrow
